Litigation Task Force Statement on Supreme Court’s Decision on Department of Education

Washington, D.C. — House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse (CO-02) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (MD-08), leaders of the Litigation Task Force, issued the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled to allow the Trump Administration to resume efforts that would gut the Department of Education: 

 “The Supreme Court’s decision today will clear the way for the Trump Administration to resume gutting the Department of Education by laying off hundreds of employees and undermining the agency’s ability to create a first-class education for every child in our nation. The ruling will have devastating consequences for schools, children and teachers across the country, and endanger a department constructed by the Congress to serve our nation’s kids. 

“This marks the continuation of a sad and shameful chapter being written by the Trump Administration—one that House Democrats and the Litigation Task Force will continue to push back against, using every procedural and legal tool to protect our students and schools and stop this outrageous presidential power grab before it does even more damage.”

Earlier this year, the Litigation Task Force filed an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education in the case of State of New York v. Linda McMahon. The Task Force was initially successful in urging a federal judge to block the Administration from dismantling the Department and ordering the immediate rehiring of unlawfully terminated staff. However, today’s Supreme Court ruling lifts that injunction as the litigation continues to make its way through the lower courts.