Greater than 175 Democratic members of Congress are submitting an amicus transient on Thursday opposing the Trump administration’s overhaul of the U.S. Division of Training.
“The legislation could not be clearer: the president doesn’t have the authority to unilaterally abolish the Division of Training,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote in a press release first obtained by ABC Information, including, “Donald Trump isn’t a king, and he can’t single-handedly lower off entry to schooling for college kids throughout this nation.”
Warren and rating committee members Jamie Raskin on Judiciary, Bobby Scott on Training, and Rosa DeLauro on Appropriations lead the 15-page authorized doc. They’re joined by Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, greater than 20 Senate Democrats, and greater than 150 different members of the Home Democratic caucus.
The lawmakers’ transient making an attempt to dam the administration from abolishing the Division of Training is in help of the NAACP’s go well with in opposition to the federal government this previous spring. In March, that case argued that downsizing the division by means of a workforce discount that slashed practically half the company’s workers — amongst different measures like terminating statutory grant applications — violates the separation of powers and lacks constitutional authority.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren conducts a particular discussion board on the rising price of schooling on the Dirksen Senate Workplace Constructing, on Could 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jemal Countess/Getty Photographs for Scholar Borrower Safety Middle, FILE
The NAACP, the Nationwide Training Affiliation (NEA), and a coalition of teams filed a preliminary injunction with the U.S. District Court docket within the District of Maryland this week, arguing the decide’s consideration of this case is required after the administration’s latest choice to pause greater than $6 billion in congressionally appropriated education schemes forward of the varsity 12 months.
“The movement seeks a treatment for the intense hurt that the Trump Administration has inflicted on college students, educators, faculties, and faculties and universities, and asks the Court docket to direct the Division to meet its statutory obligations to college students nationwide,” in accordance with a press release launched by the NEA, which represents greater than 3 million educators.
Raskin condemned the administration’s efforts to curb public schooling, contending President Donald Trump and Training Secretary Linda McMahon can’t abolish the company with out congressional approval.
“Congress created the Division of Training to make sure that each pupil in America might get hold of a high-quality, free public faculty schooling,” Raskin wrote in a press release. “That is the best of each citizen and a necessary democratic safeguard in opposition to political tyranny,” he mentioned.
“No president has the authority to dismantle a federal company created by legislation. We will courtroom to defend not solely congressional energy however the division’s nationwide academic mission, itself a pillar of American democracy,” Raskin added.
The facility to reorganize the manager department belongs to Congress and is underscored by the truth that when presidents have reorganized the manager department, they’ve executed so “by means of laws and topic to applicable restraints,” in accordance with the transient by the lawmakers.
Their transient argues that solely Congress has the authority to create, restructure, and abolish federal companies, it needs to be executed by means of laws, and the Division of Training can’t be unilaterally abolished as a result of it’s statutorily mandated.
Rep. Jamie Raskin seems on as he speaks in the course of the “No Kings” protest in opposition to President Donald Trump’s insurance policies in Philadelphia, June 14, 2025.
Rachel Wisniewski/Reuters
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colorado, advised ABC Information closing the division would strip “important help” from tens of thousands and thousands of scholars and academics.
“I’m proud to face with my colleagues within the Home and Senate to uphold Congress’ duty to make sure each pupil has entry to a high quality schooling and to defend the important work of the Division of Training,” Neguse mentioned.
Efforts to dismantle the division have been blocked by decrease courts this spring. The Supreme Court docket is predicted to weigh in on a Massachusetts case that would resolve whether or not the firing of practically 2,000 staff on the company stands. McMahon has burdened the important capabilities of the division stay and that companies like college students with disabilities, for instance, might in the end be moved to different companies.
The transient is a part of Warren’s bigger Save Our Colleges marketing campaign that she began after Trump signed an government order to decrease the Division of Training.
“The federal authorities has invested in our public faculties,” Warren advised ABC Information in April. “Taking that away from our youngsters so {that a} handful of billionaires will be even richer is simply plain ugly, and I’ll combat it with all the pieces I’ve received.”
The senator has beforehand requested the company’s Workplace of Inspector Common evaluate the Division of Authorities Effectivity’s alleged “infiltration” of the company’s inside federal pupil mortgage database. Previous to the Save Our Colleges marketing campaign, she investigated the firing of federal pupil help staff and the way a discount in workers on the company might have “dire penalties” for debtors.
The transient additionally comes after Raskin and a number of other different Home Democrats met with McMahon about the way forward for the company. That assembly appeared to depart many with unanswered questions, like Rep. Frederica Wilson, a senior member of the Home Training and Workforce Committee, who additionally signed on to the amicus transient.
“For the Division of Training to be dismantled, it’ll deliver a shock to this nation,” mentioned Wilson, a former principal and lifelong educator. “Colleges are the bedrock of this nation. When faculties are working, our nation is, too.”
