President Trump’s attempt to “facilitate the closure” of the Department of Education by executive order has been blocked.

A federal district court judge, Myong Joun, ordered the Trump administration to re-hire the hundreds of Department of Education employees whose jobs were terminated in a March 11 reduction-in-force notice that slashed the agency’s workforce by 50 percent. 

Judge Joun also blocked the implementation of a March 20 executive order that directed the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of her department and “return authority over education to the States and local communities.” Also put on hold is a March 21 order that removed federal loans and special education programs from the department’s portfolio. 

Mr. Trump promised to dismantle the education department during his 2024 campaign. However, the closure of the department would require congressional approval. 

Judge Joun said in his order that “defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval.” At the same time, he said the Trump administration “simultaneously claim[s] that their legislative goals (obtaining Congressional approval to shut down the Department) are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency).”

“There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions. Not only is there no evidence that Defendants are pursuing a ‘legislative goal’ or otherwise working with Congress to reach a resolution, but there is also no evidence that the RIF has actually made the Department more efficient,” the judge wrote. “Rather, the record is replete with evidence of the opposite.”

He said, “Plaintiffs—a group of states, school districts, nonprofit organizations, and labor unions—have provided an in-depth look into how the massive reduction in staff has made it effectively impossible for the Department to carry out its statutorily mandated functions.”

In a statement, the education department’s assistant secretary for communications, Madi Biedermann, said, “Once again, a far-left judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people.”

“President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts, not an unelected judge,” Ms. Biedermann said. 

She added that the administration will appeal the ruling on an emergency basis.