Supreme Court uses shadow docket to allow Trump to proceed with the de facto abolition of the Department of Education
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The only rule when it comes to the Trump administration requesting stays from the Supreme Court is “if Donald Trump is prevented doing anything he wants to do, no matter how transparently illegal, it is an emergency.” Today’s order, featuring no legal reasoning at all from the Court’s Republicans, allows for Linda McMahon to proceed with the unilateral destruction of the Department of Education. Justice Sotomayor, speaking for the three judges who believe that the executive branch should be bound by law even when a Republican is in the White House:
I think the best way of reading the “willfully blind” or “naive” choice is in a “bless you heart” accent, i.e. the dissenters understand and are saying that they are a third, worse thing.
After describing the history of the Department of Education, the relevant law, and the extensive evidence (much of it provided by Trump himself) that the intention of the massive staff reductions is the elimination of the department, Sotomayor explains the holding of the District Court:
It is worth pointing out here that the idea that the balance of equities here favors the administration is farcical. A stay would not cause “irreparable harm” to the administration, but lifting the stay certainly means irreparable harm to countless students, teachers, administrators, and other school employees. The administration should also clearly not be seen as being likely to succeed on the merits — these action violate both separation of powers principles and the express language of a congressional enactment. But, again, when it comes to Trump requests we now exist in a realm without law:
The irreparable harms of allowing the administration to proceed are also clear:
There are more examples of material harm in the record. Hence, the balance of equities question is not close:
When a lawless administration is backed up by a lawless court, none of it matters.
If you are interested in the Supreme Court at all you need to read this.