On Monday, the Supreme Court of the United States allowed the Trump administration to proceed with the dismissal of 1,400 state employees hired by the Department of Education, a measure that the current president considers the first step toward completely shutting down this department.
In a brief decision, the justices blocked a judicial order that was issued by a lower court in May, where the judge reasoned that Trump lacked the power to transform and close this department.
The only dissenters from the ruling were the three Democratic justices who area part of the Court. Sonia Sotomayor, the justice nominated to her position in 2008 by former President Obama, was the one who expressed the most outrage at this decision, describing the ruling as "unconstitutional" and "indefensible."
The timeline of the legal dispute
On March 11, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, announced in a press release the dismissal of 1,378 workers employed by her department, most of whom belonged to left leaning unions.
Nine days later, as part of fulfilling one of his campaign promises, Trump issued an executive order instructing McMahon to take "all necessary measures" to facilitate the closure of this department.
On March 21, the president announced that two major and multi-million dollar secretaries—the one for programs for students with special needs and the one for federal student loans—that were under control of the Department of Education will be transferred to other departments.
