NJ Joins Legal Effort to Halt Layoffs and Dismantling of U.S. Department of Education

NEW JERSEY - New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has joined a coalition of 21 state attorneys general in filing a motion for a preliminary injunction to block mass layoffs and the transfer of core responsibilities from the U.S. Department of Education. The motion is part of a broader lawsuit filed on March 13 in response to actions taken by the Trump Administration aimed at significantly downsizing and ultimately closing the Department.

“Shuttering the Department of Education will result in extraordinary harm to students, teachers, and families in our state,” said Attorney General Platkin. “President Trump cannot unilaterally eliminate a Cabinet agency, and our motion today seeks to put an immediate end to this clear violation of the law. While this Administration may be fine with gutting services for special needs students, slashing critical programs, and hurting college students, we will never be. We will continue to stand up for our state’s students, teachers, and families.”

According to the coalition, recent directives—including a March 20 executive order to shutter the agency and a March 21 public statement by President Donald Trump mandating the immediate reassignment of student loan and special education services—represent an unlawful attempt to dismantle the Department of Education without congressional approval.

The motion, filed in federal court, seeks to immediately halt these actions, which the attorneys general argue are already having a destabilizing effect on the delivery of critical education services nationwide. Among the cited consequences are the closure of Office for Civil Rights locations, delays in disbursing federal education funds to state school systems, and uncertainty around support for programs serving children with disabilities, vocational learners, and adult education participants.

The coalition contends that the Department of Education, as a cabinet-level executive agency created by Congress, cannot be dissolved or stripped of its functions by unilateral executive action. The lawsuit also claims the mass layoffs violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies implement policy and personnel changes.

Attorney General Platkin and his counterparts argue that their states are directly harmed by the disruption of education funding and oversight. Public school systems across the country rely on billions of dollars annually from the Department of Education for K-12 education, special education services, and other federally supported programs.

In addition to New Jersey, the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia are also parties to the lawsuit and the injunction request.

The case marks a significant legal challenge to the scope of presidential authority over executive agencies and raises questions about the future of federal involvement in education policy and funding.

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