Free Republic

SummaryTrump campaigned on eliminating Education Department Judge blocked mass firings and bid to close department The Justice Department said the lower court lacked jurisdiction to "second-guess the Executive’s internal management decisions," referring to the federal government's executive branch."The government has been crystal clear in acknowledging that only Congress can eliminate the Department of Education. And the government has acknowledged the need to retain sufficient staff to continue fulfilling statutorily mandated functions and has kept the personnel that, in its judgment, are necessary for those tasks. The challenged (reduction in force) is fully consistent with that approach," the filing said.The department,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Education Department and ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs. The administration said it would challenge the ruling.U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out plans announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to shut down the department. It marks a setback to one of the Republican president’s campaign promises.The ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump’s plan amounted to an illegal closure...

The admin filed a brief telling the justices that a federal judge in Massachusetts had exceeded his authority by interfering in “a contract dispute.” The Supreme Court has granted President Donald Trump’s request to halt the reinstatement of millions of dollars in Department of Education grants that the government targeted over concerns about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. Chief Justice John Roberts would have denied the administration’s request for relief, according to a court document. Justice Elena Kagan issued a dissent, as did Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose dissent was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. This is a breaking...

(Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Friday nominated a lawyer who represented the Mississippi clinic at the heart of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision to become a federal appeals court judge. Biden's latest slate of nine new judicial nominees included Julie Rikelman, an abortion rights lawyer with the Center for Reproductive Rights whom the president picked to serve on the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Biden's latest nominees continued the White House's push to diversify the federal bench. They include Daniel Calabretta, a California state court judge nominated...