Pelosi, House Democrats Defend Department of Education in Court

Washington, D.C. — This week, Speaker Emerita Pelosi joined House Democrats in filing an amicus brief challenging the Trump Administration’s efforts to close the Department of Education in the matter of the State of New York v. Linda McMahon. A case in which 20 states moved to sue the administration for its plans to place fifty percent of the Department’s workforce on administrative leave, effectively shuttering a congressionally authorized agency by way of executive fiat. 
 
By involving themselves in this legal battle, House Democrats sought to stand up for Congress’s power to ensure a quality education for all Americans—and in their filing, they argued that the Trump Administration cannot unilaterally create, dismantle, or reorganize the Education Department, nor can executive officials make solitary decisions regarding the agency’s organization and assignment of functions. The lawmakers also cited executive overreach, noting that efforts to strip support for the federal agency violate Congress’s power of the purse.

The brief was led by Task Force Co-Chairs Jamie Raskin and Joe Neguse, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Ranking Members of the Appropriations and Education and Workforce Committees, Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott.

The full amicus brief is available HERE. 

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