Attorney General Aaron M. Frey in a Recent TV Appearance.

Attorney General Aaron M. Frey today won a court order stopping the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the Department of Education (ED).

On March 13, Attorney General Frey joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the administration after it announced plans to eliminate 50% of ED’s workforce.  Following a March 20 Executive Order directing the closure of the ED’s 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 Crey and the coalition sought a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the mass layoffs and transfer of services.

Today the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the preliminary injunction, halting the administation’s policies that would dismantle ED’s and ordering all employees who were fired as part of the layoffs to be reinstated.

“Toda’s injunction is yet another in a series of wins that demonstrate the Trump admnistation is not above the law,” said AG Frey.  “My colleagues and I will not stand by while our nation’s foundation is gutted and services that Mainers rely upon are destroyed.”

AG Frey and the coalition argued in their lawsuit and motion for preliminary injunction that the Trump administation’s attacks on ED are illegal and unconstitutional.  The ED 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 autority to unilaterally dismantel it without an act of Congress.