A federal judge has halted President Donald Trump’s initiative to dismantle the Department of Education, ordering on May 22, 2025, the immediate reinstatement of over 1,300 employees who were let go.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, Massachusetts, issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s layoffs announced on March 11, 2025. This ruling marks the first instance where a federal court has determined the administration’s extensive changes to the Education Department are unlawful.
Joun, appointed by former President Joe Biden, stated that “The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true.” He concluded that the administration’s goal was to dismantle the department without congressional approval.
The Education Department faced significant staffing cuts due to Trump’s executive actions. At the start of Trump’s presidency in January 2025, the department employed 4,133 individuals. The March 11 announcement reduced positions for over 1,300 employees, and nearly 600 additional staff members resigned or retired, leaving around 2,180 employees, approximately half of the original workforce.
Judge Joun noted that these reductions could severely impact the department’s ability to function. He argued that the department was already facing challenges in meeting its goals, and such significant cuts would likely incapacitate it. He emphasized that a department lacking sufficient personnel to carry out its mandated functions is effectively not a department.
The ruling also prevents the Education Department from shifting the management of federal student loans and special education responsibilities to other agencies, as outlined in Trump’s March 21, 2025 directive. The injunction requires the department to provide weekly status updates on compliance until it returns to its state before January 20, 2025.
Two consolidated lawsuits challenged the administration’s actions. The first was initiated by the American Federation of Teachers on March 18, 2025, followed by a suit from 21 Democratic state attorneys general led by New York, along with school districts from Massachusetts and various education groups. The plaintiffs claimed that the layoffs constituted an illegal shutdown of the Education Department, impairing its ability to fulfill congressional mandates, such as supporting special education, distributing financial aid, and enforcing civil rights laws.
Education Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications Madi Biedermann criticized the ruling, calling Judge Joun a “far-left judge” who exceeded his authority. She argued that President Trump and Senate-confirmed Secretary Linda McMahon possess the authority to reorganize the agency.
Biedermann stated that the department would immediately appeal the ruling on an emergency basis, asserting that the decision was not in the best interest of American students or families. The administration contends that its personnel reductions were legal and aimed at improving efficiency, not shutting down the department.
This court ruling follows another federal judge’s decision to block the Trump administration from dismissing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on May 21, 2025. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that such dismissals would prevent the board from fulfilling its congressional mandate to ensure federal counterterrorism policies adhere to privacy and civil liberties laws.
These judicial interventions form part of a broader pattern of legal challenges against Trump’s administrative agenda. Courts have also blocked efforts to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants and to freeze federal grants and loans. The administration has consistently portrayed opposing judges as activist and politically motivated.
Secretary Linda McMahon, a former executive in professional wrestling, appeared before a House Appropriations Subcommittee on May 21, 2025, to discuss Trump’s budget proposal, which includes a 15% cut to education funding. During the hearing, McMahon outlined the administration’s priorities: closing the Department of Education, returning control to states, empowering parents, and expanding charter schools.
McMahon has repeatedly stated that dismantling the department would require congressional approval and that the administration’s goal is not to defund programs but to operate more efficiently. During her February 2025 confirmation hearing, she indicated that she would collaborate with Congress to develop a plan for the department’s closure that senators could support.
The Department of Education, established by Congress in 1979, oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans, and operates programs supporting low-income students. Republican critics have long accused the agency of wasteful spending and promoting content they deem inappropriate in schools.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, described the court ruling as a step towards reversing what she characterized as a war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity. Meanwhile, advocates for students with disabilities and civil rights groups had urged senators to reject McMahon’s nomination, expressing concerns about the impact on vulnerable student populations.
The federal education agency serves approximately 50 million children in public schools nationwide, compared to 4.7 million in private schools. Its primary functions include administering Title I funding for schools serving low-income students and overseeing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act programs for students with special needs.
Judge Joun’s ruling requires immediate compliance, giving the Department of Education 72 hours to file its first status report. The administration’s next steps will likely include an emergency appeal to higher courts, potentially leading to a Supreme Court review of presidential authority over executive agency reorganization.
