The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision Monday, overturned a prior ruling that had blocked the administration from scaling back the department’s scope.
This decision came four months after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to close the department and “return authority over education to the states and local communities.”
President Trump hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as “a major victory to parents and students across the country” via a statement on Truth Social, expressing gratitude that McMahon would now have the opportunity to “begin this very important process.”
Trump stated, “The Federal Government has been running our Education System into the ground, but we are going to turn it all around by giving the Power back to the PEOPLE. America’s students will be the best, brightest, and most Highly Educated anywhere in the world.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon also praised the ruling through an X post, writing, “Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies.”
She continued, “While today’s ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution.”
“As we return education to the states, this Administration will continue to perform all statutory duties while empowering families and teachers by reducing education bureaucracy,” she added.
However, The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, condemned the Supreme Court ruling in a statement Monday. The union was among several organizations that challenged efforts to abolish the department.
“Nothing is more important than the success of students. America’s educators and parents won’t be silent as Donald Trump, with the support of the MAGA Supreme Court, strips our students, our families, and our communities of protections and funding that Congress has mandated,” said NEA President Becky Pringle.
She added, “Today’s ruling withholding relief that the lower courts ordered will only compound the harm,” warning that abolishing the federal agency will “hurt all students by class sizes soaring, cutting job training and career and technical education programs, making higher education further out of reach, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections.”
