Education Week

A federal judge said Wednesday the U.S. Department of Education has not meaningfully complied with his June order to reinstate hundreds of civil rights enforcement staff after layoffs greatly reduced their ranks. The statement by Judge Myong J. Joun, a Masschusetts-based U.S. district judge, was part of an order he issued denying the Trump administration’s request to drop his initial directive to the agency, which stemmed from an April lawsuit challenging only terminations in the office for civil rights—the Education Department division charged with enforcing federal civil rights laws in the nation’s schools. The administration sought to have Joun overturn his June order after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked another, broader order from Joun in a separate case that directed the Education Department to restore all laid-off staff from across the agency. Administration lawyers argued that aspects of the separate cases were “functionally identical.” But Joun, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, wrote that he was “unconvinced” by the administration’s arguments.