WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Friday allowed officials who believe the Trump administration has violated new policies against diversity, equity and inclusive efforts to end education department grants for teacher training.
A 5-4 decision blocks the decision of a Massachusetts-based judge. The approximately $65 million grant payment is unpaid.
The decision was President Donald Trump’s first victory in the Supreme Court in his second term.
Five of the court’s conservatives are the majority, with Secretary John Roberts joining the three Liberal parties in dissent.
The unsigned decision said district court judges had no authority to order funds to be paid under federal laws known as the Administrative Procedure Act.
The administration “will make a convincing claim” that entities that receive the funds will not suffer irreparable harm as a result of withholding the funds, the decision said.
In her dissent, liberal justice Elena Kagan disputed the conclusion, saying that grant recipients would be forced to cancel some of their programs.
“The government will not adhere to the legality here to cancel the problematic education grant,” she added.
“It’s not confusing that the majority of justice considers government applications as an emergency,” liberal Ketanji Brown Jackson said in a different opinion.
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The 104 problematic grants were awarded in two different programs, Teacher Quality Partnership and another program called Supporting Effective Educator Development.
The Department of Education in February found that the grant violated a program that the administration violated Trump’s executive order to eliminate diversity, equity, inclusion, or DEI, and partially aimed at allowing people from historically marginalized groups to have equal opportunities.
The administrative official said the funded programme would “participate or participate in a DEI initiative or other initiative that discriminates against illegally based on race, color, religion, gender, national origin or another protected characteristic.”
In court documents, deputy Attorney General Sarah Harris said many of the programs contained “offensive day material.”
In March, eight states, including California, Massachusetts and New York, were filed on behalf of grant-received entities, such as universities and nonprofits, and decisions to withdraw the award violated federal law, known as the Administrative Procedure Act.
US District Judge Myung Jaeun said the authorities were unable to properly explain their reasoning and issued a temporary restraining order that hinders the administration’s move.
The Boston-based First Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block Joun’s decision and noted that the Education Division sent the same boilerplate letter to all grant recipients who announced the end of the funds. According to the Court of Appeal, the letter did not contain specific information as to why certain programs were deemed to be violating anti-DEI policies.
This case only includes grants issued to the entities in the accused state. In total, the Department of Education has cancelled around $600 million in teacher training grants.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order seeking to dismantle the education sector. However, to completely remove the department, Congressional approval is required.
In two previous emergency applications filed by the Trump administration, the Supreme Court did not grant the request.
In one, the court rejected the administration’s bid to avoid immediate payment of contractors for US International Development Organizations whose funds were cut.
Meanwhile, the court avoided a decision on whether Trump could fire the federal watchdog, but the administration ultimately won after a lower court ruling.
