Oregon Seeks Preliminary Injunction to Stop Trump Administration from Dismantling the Education Department

A preliminary injunction seeking to end the Trump administration’s ‘illegal and unconstitutional’ dismantling of the Education Department (ED) is being sought by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield in a coalition with 20 other state AGs.

Rayfield and the coalition are seeking a court order to stop the layoffs of 50% of the ED staff, and the transfer of student loan management and special education services to outside agencies, a move called for by President Donald Trump.

Coalition of AGs Claim that Administration Does Not Have the Legal Right to Close the ED

They argue that the administration does not have the legal right to dismantle the Education Department without the sanction of Congress and that the mass layoffs are in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act.

The preliminary injunction is a second lawsuit filed by the coalition of AGs, following its first lawsuit on 13 March, after which Trump issued an executive order to dismantle the ED.

Rayfield and the coalition say families and students throughout America have already been impacted by the attacks on the ED by the Trump administration. The coalition points out that mass layoffs of ED staff have delayed critical funding to state schools and led to the closure of ED Civil Rights offices throughout the country.

The coalition argues that states rely on federal funding for elementary and secondary education, as well as for services for disabled children, vocational and adult education, and other services crucial to the education system.

‘All these programs will be severely disrupted if the administration’s incapacitation of the ED is not stopped,’ states the coalition.

In a news statement from the Oregon Department of Justice, Rayfield says the injunction is ‘about protecting students, educators, and the heart of our educational system’ from what he terms a ‘reckless dismantling’ of the ED.

Rayfield is also critical about the decision to move student loan services ‘without adequate planning’ which has left large numbers of Oregonians with financial hardship.