On Friday, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and overturned a judge’s directive that had prevented the cancellation of $148 million in grants intended for recruiting and training new educators in California as well as additional funds across the country.
With a 5-to-4 decision, the justices supported the administration's appeal and have temporarily halted the funding.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. stated 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 statement noted that the claimants failed to counter the government's assertion that it is improbable to reclaim the grant money after distribution.
Lawyers for the Trump administration asked the court to limit judges who were serving as "self-proclaimed overseers" of the federal government.
In early February, the appointees selected by Trump at the Education Department examined ongoing grants with the intention to cease 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 the agency’s goals.
Led by Attorney General Rob Bonta from California, eight states with democratic leanings initiated legal action in Boston, asserting that although Congress had sanctioned the grants, their abrupt cancellation was unjustified. "authorized by law." The lawsuit was aimed at approximately $250 million worth of revoked grants, with around $148 million of that total intended for projects in California.
California has been joined in the lawsuit by Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Colorado. There are no filings from states with Republican leadership participating in this legal action.
Bonta's lawsuit hinged on the Administrative Procedure Act, prohibiting federal agencies from making sudden changes to their regulatory policies 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 imposed a provisional injunction 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 halt the unconstitutional authority wielded by federal district courts as they assume the role of managing the Executive branch’s funding and grant distribution decisions without proper authorization," stated the filing in U.S. Department of Education v. State of California.
A statement from Bonta's office mentioned that the Supreme Court order "doesn’t finally settle any of the matters in this case, and the preliminary injunction motion is still under consideration."
The Trump Administration is pushing for an education policy that could remove teachers from schools and stop those near completion of their training from taking over vacant 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 lost eight federal grants totaling approximately $56 million. These funds were intended to support the recruitment and training of 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 educating and certifying 276 instructors over half a decade to serve in financially challenged or impoverished schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Pasadena 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 within Los Angeles County.
In a statement, California Teachers Association President David Goldberg denounced the Supreme Court's decision.
"At a time when we're dealing with persistent staff shortages in our public schools, we should focus more on recruiting and retaining teachers instead of using essential resources as leverage for pushing political goals," Goldberg stated.
Daniel Miller, a times staff writer, contributed to this report.
This tale initially surfaced in Los Angeles Times .
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