On Friday, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and overturned a judge's injunction that had prevented the cancellation of $148 million in grants intended for recruiting and training new educators in California and additional funds across the country.
With a 5-4 decision, the justices sided with the administration and have temporarily halted the funding as part of their ruling on the appeal.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stated that he would have rejected the appeal, with the court's three liberal justices—Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—issuing a written dissent.
"Based on my perspective, there was nothing urgent that required our immediate involvement in this matter," Kagan stated.
Most of them did not provide an explanation for their choice. Issued in a short, anonymous decree, this stated that the claimants failed to "dispute the Government’s assertion that recovering the grant money after distribution is improbable."
Lawyers representing the Trump administration asked the court to limit judges who were functioning as "self-proclaimed administrators" of the federal government.
In early February, the appointees chosen by Trump at the Education Department examined ongoing grants with the intention to halt funding for "discriminatory practices, such as those found in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives."
They opted to end 104 out of 109 teacher training grants worth approximately $600 million across the nation. This decision was communicated via standardized letters stating that these grants were "no longer furthering...agency goals."
Led by Attorney General Rob Bonta of California, eight states withDemocratic leanings initiated legal action in Boston, contending that although Congress had endorsed the grants, their abrupt cancellation was unjustifiable. "authorized by law." The lawsuit was aimed at approximately $250 million worth of revoked grants, with around $148 million of that total intended for California.
California has been joined in the lawsuit by Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Colorado. Notably, no lawsuits have been initiated by states with Republican leadership.
Bonta's case hinged on the Administrative Procedure Act, prohibiting federal agencies from making sudden shifts in their regulatory approaches without providing a clear and justifiable rationale.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, appointed by President Joe Biden, concurred that the Education Department’s sudden termination of the grants was both “arbitrary and capricious” and unlawful according to the Administrative Procedure Act. He noted that “no individual assessment was conducted for any of the programs” that were ended.
On March 10, he granted a temporary restraining order to keep things as they were.
When a federal appeals court declined to overturn that ruling, the Trump administration attorneys brought their case to the Supreme Court for review. .
"Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued in her appeal that this court ought to quickly bring an end to the federal district courts' unconstitutional role as self-proclaimed overseers of the Executive branch’s decisions regarding funds and grants,” stated the filing in U.S. Department of Education v. State of California.
A statement from Bonta's office said the Supreme Court order "does not conclusively resolve any of the issues in this case, and the preliminary injunction motion is still pending."
The Trump administration is pushing for an education policy that could remove teachers from schools and stop those nearly prepared to teach from entering classrooms," Bonta stated. "Although we would have liked to keep the temporary restraining order, we respect the judicial process and are eager to continue presenting our argument in the lower court.
Bonta's lawsuit stated that both the California State University and the University of California forfeited eight grants worth approximately $56 million. These federal grants aimed to attract and prepare educators for employment in challenging schools located in either rural or urban regions.
One of the terminated initiatives involved a $7.5 million award to California State University, Los Angeles, aimed at preparing and certifying 276 educators over half a decade to serve in underprivileged or economically disadvantaged areas within theLos Angeles Unified School District and thePasadena Unified School District.
Another canceled initiative was an $8 million project at UCLA aimed at training a minimum of 314 middle school principals along with math, English, science, and social studies educators for multiple school districts across Los Angeles County.
In a statement, California Teachers Association President David Goldberg denounced the Supreme Court's decision.
"At a time when we continue to face staff shortages in our public schools, we should focus additional resources on recruiting and retaining teachers rather than using essential funds to promote political goals," Goldberg stated.
Daniel Miller, a Times staff writer, assisted with this report.
This tale initially surfaced in Los Angeles Times .
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