The Trump administration has secured a legal victory allowing significant changes to the Department of Education as the president plans to mark his birthday with a military parade.
A federal court in Maryland denied an attempt to halt widespread layoffs at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) – an essential part of the Department of Education responsible for collecting and analyzing data on U.S. school performance.
In April, two organizations representing education researchers filed a lawsuit against the government, alleging that the Department had irresponsibly cut 90 percent of IES staff, terminated key research projects, and jeopardized decades of critical data.
They asked the court to reinstate the workers, revive the contracts, and stop any data from being destroyed.
But Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled against them, at least for now, saying the lawsuit was too broad, lacked hard evidence, and didn’t clearly show any direct harm.
‘The record in this case underscores that it is poorly suited for preliminary relief,’ Gallagher wrote in a 13-page opinion.
Still, she didn’t hold back in raising alarm bells over the Trump administration’s actions – warning that the agency, now gutted, may no longer be able to fulfill its mission.
‘IES is not doing a number of tasks Congress requires of it,’ she noted. ‘It has likely gone too far in downsizing.’
The Trump administration has won an early court battle to gut a key federal education agency, despite a judge warning the cuts may have crippled its functions
Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks during a Senate Appropriations hearing, Tuesday, June 3, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington
The judge stressed that her ruling doesn’t mean the case is over.
She said the matter needs to go to trial with a full set of facts, and signaled that both sides may have to compromise.
The court has given both parties until June 19 to lay out a schedule for the next steps – setting the stage for a high-stakes legal showdown over whether the Trump team has unlawfully gutted one of the government’s main education watchdogs.
The ruling comes just days before Trump’s long-anticipated military parade, billed as a show of national might and administrative overhaul as he begins the second phase of his second term.
But stormy skies could rain on the spectacle.
Lightning in the area would force the Pentagon to delay the parade’s marquee events – including flyovers and parachute jumps along Constitution Avenue. Still, Trump made it clear Saturday morning that the show would proceed.
‘OUR GREAT MILITARY PARADE IS ON, RAIN OR SHINE. REMEMBER, A RAINY DAY PERADE BRINGS GOOD LUCK. I’LL SEE YOU ALL IN D.C.’ he posted on Truth Social – fixing the spelling of ‘perade’ in a second post.
The parade will be the largest military presence on D.C. streets since the Gulf War victory celebration in 1991 – and falls on Trump’s 79th birthday.
President Donald Trump addresses the troops on Tuesday at Fort Bragg. While he’s denied Saturday’s parade is a birthday celebration for him – he turns 79 – he’ll be front-and-center taking in all the spectacle
Though he’s denied it’s a personal celebration, he’ll be front and center: delivering remarks, accepting a folded flag from a parachutist, and leading an enlistment and reenlistment ceremony.
According to the Associated Press, the event will feature 6,700 troops, 150 vehicles, and 50 aircraft.
The court decision coincides with a damning new report showing the Department of Education is spending $7 million a month on employees who aren’t working – part of the Trump administration’s controversial deferred resignation program.
According to calculations by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, the department has spent over $21 million in just three months on idle employees, many of whom accepted Trump’s offer to voluntarily leave their posts while continuing to receive pay through September 2025.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, chair of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE), defended Trump’s deferred resignation plan – which allows federal employees to leave their posts while still collecting pay – but blamed the courts for delaying further cuts.
She said the judiciary was standing in the way of what voters elected Trump to do: slash bloated federal departments, including the Department of Education.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) echoed the criticism, calling the $7 million-a-month figure a ‘slap in the face’ to taxpayers.
She accused federal workers of abusing paid leave and pledged to work with the Trump administration to overhaul Washington’s bureaucracy.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) heads up Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Caucus efforts in the Senate
Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union protest against firings during a rally to defend federal workers in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025
At her confirmation hearing in February, Education Secretary Linda McMahon backed Trump’s promise to eliminate the department entirely – saying he intended to work with Congress to make it happen.
An estimated 75,000 federal employees accepted the administration’s deferred resignation offer across various agencies.
But Democrats blasted the cuts in a letter to McMahon, calling the 1,300 affected DOE workers ‘dedicated public servants’ and warning the layoffs endangered vital education services.
With a trial looming and tens of millions in taxpayer dollars at stake, the battle over the future of the Department of Education is far from over.
