It was May 22, 2025, when a single court ruling shook the political architecture of the nation. In Boston, far from the glaring spotlight of Washington, federal judge Myong Joun delivered a crystal-clear counterpoint to the brute power of the White House. He blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order to shut down the Department of Education – and thus caused a central campaign promise of the president to collapse, at least for now.
What the administration marketed as an “efficiency initiative,” the court exposed as a legally baseless overreach. 3,000 employees were to be laid off – among them experts in special education, equity, and financial aid. But Joun strongly objected. Such a fundamental hollowing out, he wrote, would “likely cripple” the department – with irreparable consequences for the most vulnerable in society.
The plaintiffs were not party strategists but school districts, teachers' unions, and education organizations – with a simple yet weighty message. Education is not a pawn of power, but a foundation of the republic. They prevailed. For now.
Judge Joun not only ordered a halt to the layoffs but also demanded the reinstatement of the employees dismissed on March 11. In the language of the law, it was a preliminary injunction. In the language of democracy – a warning signal.
Because the attempt to dismantle a ministry without Congress, without debate, without law – it may appear on paper to be an administrative action. But in truth, it was a political signal fire. And perhaps, one may hope, the ruling from Boston is the first step back toward an America where education is not dismantled, but defended.
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