Neal McCluskey
By a 6–3 vote, the US Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision that the Trump administration violated the Constitution by firing 1,300 US Department of Education employees. Both the Supreme Court minority and the lower court argued that the staffing reductions were intended to dismantle the department, which only Congress can do because it makes laws, and the department is its creation.
But the basic facts belie this conclusion.
If the administration had wanted to unilaterally kill the department, it would have fired everyone, but it did not. Indeed, it brought back 74 employees after determining its cuts had gone deeper than “fat” and had hit “muscle.” And Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has stated that the administration believes Congress must end the department.
The president of the United States is the chief executive, and determining how many people are needed to execute the laws created by Congress is the president’s prerogative. The Supreme Court rightly let that stand.
Now, Congress and the president should work together to determine how to eliminate the unconstitutional and wasteful US Department of Education.