Trump and SCOTUS are weakening the separation of powers

Trump and SCOTUS are weakening the separation of powers
Conservative justices permit Trump's Education Department purge — and increase his power

By Sabrina Haake
Contributing Writer
Published July 19, 2025 10:30AM (EDT)


(Salon) Last week, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority authorized President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education. In another shadow docket ruling that lacks legal precedent, facts or justification, the court dealt an even more serious blow to separation of powers than to public education.

The Education Department was established by federal statute in 1979 to “strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual.” Congress not only created the department by federal statute, but it also tasked the agency with specific priorities: Funding kindergarten through 12th grades with over $100 billion annually, which makes up around 11% of all public school funding; running the federal student financial aid system, which has awarded over $120 billion a year in student aid to over 13 million students; ensuring equal access to education for poor, disabled and disadvantaged students; administering the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act with special education services for more than 7 million students and administering grants for students seeking college degrees or higher education.

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The Supreme Court’s decision came two weeks after states received a three-sentence email from the Education Department advising that $7 billion in education funding — which was scheduled to arrive the next day — was being frozen indefinitely. The notice did not provide a reason.

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In both cases, the dissent was livid. Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the Education Department decision “indefensible” because it “hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out.” Aside from supporting public education in general, the gist of her dissent was that allowing an executive to unilaterally dissolve a federal department expressly created by Congress poses a grave threat to the separation of powers by diminishing the role of Congress. Sotomayor also called out her fellow justices. “When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise,” she wrote, “it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.” .................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/19/trump-and-scotus-are-weakening-the-separation-of-powers/