U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused her conservative colleagues on the bench of rewarding President Donald Trump’s “clear defiance” of the Constitution and the rule of law.
The court split along ideological lines on Monday, with the conservative majority clearing the way for the Trump administration to proceed with plans to lay off some 1,400 employees at the Department of Education (DOE).
Why It Matters
Monday’s was the latest in a series of Supreme Court emergency rulings that have gone in the Trump administration’s favor.
The High Court issued a ruling last week saying the administration can move forward with plans to implement massive layoffs across the federal bureaucracy, though it specified it wasn’t commenting on the legality of Trump’s plan but merely allowing for it to be launched while the case makes its way through the lower courts.
The Supreme Court also recently handed Trump another major win when it issued a ruling limiting the ability of district judges to impose nationwide injunctions.
What To Know
Sotomayor issued a blistering dissent to the majority opinion in Monday’s DOE ruling, saying she could not “condone such abuse of our equitable authority.”
“The President must take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not set out to dismantle them,” Sotomayor wrote. “That basic rule undergirds our Constitution’s separation of powers. Yet today, the majority rewards clear defiance of that core principle with emergency relief. Because I cannot condone such abuse of our equitable authority, I respectfully dissent.”
Sotomayor’s two liberal colleagues, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined in her dissent.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon released a statement celebrating the ruling, saying: “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.
“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.”
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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