Today, Thursday March 20, President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order shutting down the Department of Education (D.O.E.) and returning all education-related decisions to the hands of the state.
To begin this process, Education Secretary Linda McMahon slashed the D.O.E.’s workforce in half in compliance with the president’s directive. In response, 21 democratic attorneys general launched a lawsuit against Trump claiming any attempt to remove the D.O.E. is unconstitutional.
While fully shutting down a department of government requires an act of Congress, the president is able to stop all functions of the department. This ensures current funding doesn’t go towards the Department’s goals which include programs or activities that advance diversity, equity and inclusion or gender ideology.
In an appearance before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, McMahon answered questions about how she would uphold civil rights should the department be abolished. After saying that she would “like to do this right”, McMahon asserted that shutting down the department would not require an act of Congress. When asked for assurance that she would follow appropriate protocol should the president ask her to break the law, McMahon assured that the president would not ask her to do such a thing.
Trump has been planning on dismantling the D.O.E. since his first term, claiming that the state should be in charge of education and campaigning that other branches of government will absorb other roles of the department.
This comes after Trump’s posts on Truth Social calling for the impeachment of U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg, another instance of Trump undermining the checks and balances of the government.
