Headline Roundup • July 15th, 2025
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Resume Education Department Layoffs
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to allow President Donald Trump to resume efforts to lay off 1,300 positions in the Department of Education and shrink the agency.
The Details: The ruling lifted a temporary lower-court ruling that prevented Trump officials from removing more than 4,100 workers. All three Democratic-appointed justices publicly dissented. Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the Trump administration of trying to "eliminate a Cabinet-level agency established by Congress" and called the decision "indefensible."
For Context: Since taking office, the Trump administration has been pushing to lay off half of the Education Department's workforce and move some of the agency's core functions, including managing student loans, to other federal departments. US District Judge Myong Joun blocked these efforts in May, ruling that Trump needed congressional authorization and ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the roughly 1,400 workers laid off in March. To formally abolish the Department of Education, Trump would need the approval of Congress. Follow our effort to track the rest of Trump's cuts to federal funding and agencies.
How the Media Covered It: Wall Street Journal (Center bias) wrote the decision clears the way to weaken the department from within. It highlighted other recent wins for the Trump administration with the Supreme Court, and that 60% of Americans want to keep the agency. The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) underscored the Trump administration's argument that the Executive has authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies. The New Republic (Left) started with, “The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Trump to destroy the Department of Education.” It emphasized the dissenting justices' concern for the separation of powers, accusing the majority of being complicit in Trump's lawlessness.
Revised by the AllSides staff (of humans) after a first draft from our custom AI. Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Photo from Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
On Monday, the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority granted the administration’s emergency request to lift the injunction, greenlighting Trump’s effort to demolish the agency.
Photo from Stefani Reynolds/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to begin mass layoffs at the Education Department, halting a lower-court ruling that had blocked the White House’s plans.
The Supreme Court issued an order Monday allowing the Education Department to lay off hundreds of employees, staying a lower court’s pause of the Trump administration’s plans.
