Sarah Jo Marcotte, an educator from Vermont, holds a sign that reads “Here for my students!! Cuts Hurt.” outside of the U.S. Department of Education on March 20, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to reinstate more than 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees.
“The Department must be able to carry out its functions and its obligations,” as well as “other relevant statutes as mandated by Congress,” U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston wrote in the preliminary injunction.
The U.S. Department of Education announced a reduction in force on March 11 that would have gutted the agency’s staff by a half.
Two days later, 21 states — including Michigan, Nevada and New York — filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for its staff cuts at the Education Department.
In the injunction on Thursday, the judge pointed out that the staff cuts led to the closure of seven out of 12 offices tasked with the enforcement of civil rights, which protects students from discrimation on the basis of race, sex and disability.
Former President Jimmy Carter established the current-day U.S. Department of Education in 1979. Since then, the agency has faced other existential threats, with former President Ronald Reagan calling for its end and President Donald Trump, during his first term, attempting to merge it with the Labor Department.
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