In a previous Legal Update, we reviewed the steps taken by the Trump Administration toward dismantling the U.S. Department of Education (“DoE”), including the March 11, 2025 mass layoffs at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the March 20, 2025 Executive Order directing the Education Secretary to facilitate the closure of the DoE.
In response, Wisconsin joined other states in filing litigation against the Trump Administration and the DoE. The Plaintiff states argued that the reduction-in-force was an unlawful step toward dismantling the DoE without Congressional approval. Likewise, the Plaintiffs argued that the reduction-in-force rendered the DoE unable to fulfill its statutory and regulatory mandates, including funding special education and enforcing civil rights laws in schools.
On May 22, 2025, a U.S. District Judge in Massachusetts consolidated this case with a similar case challenging the reduction-in-force and Executive Order. The Court granted the Consolidated Plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction and ordered the following:
- The Trump Administration is prohibited from implementing the March 11th reduction-in-force, the March 20th Executive Order, and the directive to transfer management of federal student loans and special education functions out of the DoE. This prohibition includes implementing any of the above under a different name;
- The DoE must reinstate the employees who were terminated as part of the March 11th reduction-in-force to restore the DoE’s ability to carry out its statutory functions; and
- The DoE must file an initial status report with the Court and every week thereafter, describing the steps being taken to comply with the court order and restore the DoE to the “status quo” (i.e., the DoE prior to January 20, 2025).
The Trump Administration appealed the Court’s decision. We will keep you advised of any new developments.
