Overview

• The Supreme Court’s unsigned July 16 emergency order lifted a Massachusetts judge’s injunction, allowing the administration to fire about 1,378 Department of Education employees.
• Justices split 6-3 along ideological lines, with Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting over separation-of-powers concerns.
• Twenty primarily Democratic states and major teachers’ unions have filed consolidated lawsuits arguing the cuts undermine the department’s ability to enforce federal education laws.
• Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the ruling a win for students and families, saying core functions will continue even as authority shifts toward states.
• Legal debate over the president’s power to dismantle a congressionally created agency without legislative approval is set to return to the Supreme Court for a full hearing.