Attorney General Ford Wins Court Order Stopping Dismantling of Department of Education

Carson City, NV — Today, Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford secured a major legal victory against the Trump Administration’s unlawful effort to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE). On March 13, AG Ford joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the administration after it announced plans to eliminate 50% of the DOE’s workforce. Following a March 20 executive order directing the closure of the DOE and President Trump’s March 21 announcement that, in addition to implementing layoffs, the Department must “immediately” transfer student loan management and special education services outside of the Department, AG Ford and the coalition sought a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the mass layoffs and transfer of services. Today the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the preliminary injunction, halting the administration’s policies that would dismantle the DOE and ordering all employees who were fired as part of the layoffs to be reinstated.

“This is more than a legal win; it’s a line in the sand. Tearing down the Department of Education is a direct attack on our future – and I am relieved that vital resources will not be unlawfully ripped away from our children while this lawsuit proceeds,” said AG Ford. “Education is one of the most vital services our government can provide, and to attempt to rip it away without thought and without legal authority is a slap in the face to both our children and our educators. I was a public school math teacher, and I’m the father of three sons who attended Nevada’s public schools, so I know how important this funding is. I will do everything in my power to stop the Trump administration’s illegal attempt to take a hatchet to the Department of Education and to our children’s futures.”

AG Ford and the coalition argued in their lawsuit and motion for a preliminary injunction that the Trump administration’s attacks on the DOE are illegal and unconstitutional. The DOE is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous laws creating its various programs and funding streams. The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the executive branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally dismantle it without an act of Congress. In addition, AG Ford and the coalition argue that the DOE’s mass layoffs violate the Administrative Procedures Act.

Joining AG Ford in the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

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