A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track.
The Associated Press reports that the court has paused an order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who had issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs of 1,400 department employees and calling into question the broader plan.
The layoffs “will likely cripple the department,” Joun wrote. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.
The high court action enables the administration to resume work on shutting down the department.
The court did not explain its decision in favor of Trump, as is customary in emergency appeals. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asserted that her colleagues were enabling legally questionable action on the part of the administration.
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it,” Sotomayor wrote for herself and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.
A lawyer for the Massachusetts cities and education groups that sued over the plan said the lawsuit will continue. She pointed out that no court has yet ruled that what the administration wants to do is legal.
“Without explaining to the American people its reasoning, a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have dealt a devastating blow to this nation’s promise of public education for all children," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward. "On its shadow docket, the Court has yet again ruled to overturn the decision of two lower courts without argument."
In a post In a post on his social media platform, Trump characterized the high court ruling as "a major victory to parents and students across the country.”
