The Supreme Court is allowing President Trump’s plan to rapidly reduce the workforce of the Department of Education to move forward while a court battle over his plans to eliminate the department continues.

In a 6-3 decision, the court is pausing a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun that required the reversal of the layoffs of nearly 1,400 employees.

Judge Joun found that courts would likely find that the Trump administration’s actions were unlawful and said it is “effectively disabling the department from carrying out its statutory duties.”

A federal appeals court rejected the Justice Department appeal to block the injunction and the administration asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief.

The Supreme Court order does not rule on the overall case but allows the Trump administration to continue to dismantle the department as the case continues to work through the court.

The court is not explaining its decision, as is customary in emergency appeals. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent, joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Justice Elena Kagan, calls the decision “indefensible” saying it hands the president the power to repeal statues by firing all those necessary to carry them out.

Following Mr. Trump’s executive order, the education secretary, Linda McMahon, gutted the department’s work force, firing over 50 percent of its staff overnight. While not technically eliminating the department, the cuts were aimed at making it unable to function.

“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it,” Justice Sotomayor says in the dissent.

Mr. Trump has advocated for the agency’s closure and during his campaign he promised to return control of schools to the individual states as part of his efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.

Ms. McMahon promises to continue to carry out the reduction in force after the decision. “While today’s ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution,” Ms. McMahon says in an X post.
The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, says the administration has abandoned public school children. “I’m sorely disappointed by this lawless, unsigned decision that will hurt kids across America,” Ms. Weingarten says in an X post.