A federal judge in Massachusetts on Thursday blocked the Trump administration from carrying out an executive order to take steps to dismantle the Department of Education.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction blocking the March executive order in an order that also directs the department to reinstate employees who were fired as part of a workforce reduction that cut nearly 50 percent of its workforce.
The plaintiffs argued that the executive order and subsequent firings go beyond an agency reorganization and instead are a violation of separation of powers. The ruling addresses a pair of consolidated lawsuits: one from a coalition of attorneys general representing 20 states and the District of Columbia and a second from the Massachusetts-based Somerville and Easthampton school districts, the American Federation of Teachers and a number of other education groups.
