On May 22, 2025, the plaintiffs in the federal case New York v. McMahon won an important preliminary victory, in which the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the sweeping changes recently ordered by President Trump aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education. This preliminary injunction will be in effect during the litigation of this case until the court reaches a decision on the merits and determines whether the Executive Branch acted unlawfully in its attempts to shut down the Department.

The Department cannot be shut down without Congressional approval, and the court determined that the Executive Branch’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department” without that approval from Congress. 

The court ordered that the Executive Branch cannot carry out the announced reduction-in-force (RIF) that would reduce the Department’s staff by half, cannot carry out President Trump’s March 20, 2025 executive order instructing Secretary Linda McMahon to take all steps to close down the Department, and cannot carry out President Trump’s March 21, 2025 directive to transfer special education functions out of the Department. The court’s order requires that all federal employees of the Department who were terminated as part of the RIF be reinstated and requires the Department to resume the “status quo” of its statutory functions. 

The court highlighted the “core obligation” of the Department to support students with disabilities and their parents, as well as the schools and teachers who educate those students. The order made note of the Department’s support for research, pilot programs, personnel and technology development, and parent training and information centers, or PTIs. The court also explained the “vital role” played by the Office for Civil Rights within the Department for enforcing civil rights laws in schools, allowing students to file complaints without the need to file suit in court or to pay for litigation costs.

A spokesperson for the Department has stated that the administration plans to challenge the court’s decision. The plaintiffs in this case include several states, school districts, and labor unions. including the American Federation of Teachers. This case has been consolidated from two separate cases, including Somerville Public Schools v. Trump