WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to pause a court order to reinstate Education Department employees who were fired in mass layoffs as part of his plan to dismantle the agency.
The Justice Department’s emergency appeal to the high court said U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston exceeded his authority last month when he issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs of nearly 1,400 people and putting the broader plan on hold.
Joun’s order has blocked one of the Republican president’s biggest campaign promises and effectively stalled the effort to wind down the department. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.
The judge wrote that the layoffs “will likely cripple the department.”
But Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote on Friday that Joun was substituting his policy preferences for those of the Trump administration.
The layoffs help put in the place the “policy of streamlining the department and eliminating discretionary functions that, in the administration’s view, are better left to the states,” Sauer wrote.
He also pointed out that the Supreme Court in April voted 5-4 to block Joun's earlier order seeking to keep in place Education Department teacher-training grants.
The current case involves two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump’s plan amounted to an illegal closure of the Education Department.
One suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts along with the American Federation of Teachers and other education groups. The other suit was filed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general.
The suits argued that layoffs left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.
Education Department employees who were targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March, according to a union that represents some of the agency’s staff. Joun’s order prevents the department from fully terminating them, but none have been allowed to return to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. Without Joun’s order, the workers were scheduled to be terminated Monday.
The Education Department said Friday it is “actively assessing how to reintegrate” the employees. A department email sent Friday asked them to share whether they had gained other employment, saying the request was meant to “support a smooth and informed return to duty.”
Trump has made it a priority to shut down the Education Department, though he has acknowledged that only Congress has the authority to do that. In the meantime, Trump issued a March order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to wind it down “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
Trump later said the department’s functions will be parceled to other agencies, suggesting that federal student loans should be managed by the Small Business Administration and programs involving students with disabilities would be absorbed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Those changes have not yet happened.
The president argues that the Education Department has been overtaken by liberals and has failed to spur improvements to the nation’s lagging academic scores. He has promised to “return education to the states.”
Opponents note that K-12 education is already mostly overseen by states and cities.
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration’s Education Department budget, which seeks a 15% budget cut including a $4.5 billion cut in K-12 funding as part of the agency’s downsizing.
Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.
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FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street and oil prices are holding steadier Thursday in the wait to see what will come next after President Donald Trump raised doubts about the temporary truce in the war with Iran.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and was on track to recover its loss from the day before, even though the United States launched new airstrikes against Iran, which responded by targeting U.S. allies in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 141 points, or 0.3%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.
In the oil market, prices gave back some of their jumps from the day before. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.5% to $77.61. That’s down from $78.02 the day before but still above its $71.80 price from the end of last week.
The worry is that a return to full-blown war will block oil tankers from the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide. That could worsen inflation, which economists expected would ease with oil prices, and in turn force the Federal Reserve and other central banks to raise interest rates.
Higher rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments.
But Trump also said Wednesday that the latest back-and-forth fighting would not result in “long-term” military action, raising uncertainty about just what will happen.
The swings for oil prices have halted what had been a steady decline in gasoline prices, and the cost for a gallon climbed a nickel overnight, according to motor club AAA. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.85 Thursday, up 68 cents from a year earlier.
In the meantime, renewed strength for makers of computer chips and other winners of the boom around artificial-intelligence technology is helping to support stock markets worldwide.
In South Korea, whose stock market is dominated by two companies that make semiconductors, the Kospi index rose 0.6% after tumbling 5.3% the day before. SK Hynix, which is preparing to sell shares of its stock that will trade in the United States, jumped 5.3% in Seoul.
On Wall Street, Micron Technology’s rise of 7.1% was the strongest force pushing upward on the S&P 500. Micron cited “surging demand for memory in the AI era” as it gave a progress update on construction in central New York of what it says is the largest semiconductor manufacturing site in U.S. history.
Such stocks have become some of Wall Street’s most influential after growing so big in the euphoria around AI. But AI stocks have also come under pressure recently because of worries their prices shot too high and that AI may not create enough productivity and profits to make all the investments in chips and data centers worth it.
Stocks broadly got some help from stabilizing yields in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.55% from 4.56% late Wednesday.
It had been climbing on worries about high oil prices and the potential for higher interest rates, which cranked up the pressure on stocks and prices for other investments.
Besides the war with Iran, another big event for Wall Street is the upcoming start of earnings reporting season for companies. Next week, the biggest banks are set to unveil how much profit they made from April through June. Companies across industries will need to report strong growth to justify the big moves their stock prices have made.
PepsiCo fell 3.9% even though it reported slightly better revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Numbers released by the company behind Gatorade and Doritos showed weakening trends in its North American food and drinks businesses.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
Besides Seoul’s climb, stock indexes rose 1.7% in Shanghai and 0.7% in Paris.
On the losing end was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which slipped 0.7% as shares of Apple supplier Luxshare fell 1.5% in its trading debut.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Patrick McKeon works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Michael Pistillo, left, and Federico DeMarco work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by a screen showing international oil prices at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics Co. stock price at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, July 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
