Three Key Takeaways:
- The Supreme Court gave Donald Trump an early victory by allowing his administration to temporarily suspend $65 million in teacher-training grants, which Trump argued funded wasteful diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
- While conservatives celebrated the win, Chief Justice John Roberts’ decision to side with liberal Justices in dissent, opposing the Court’s conservative majority, left many conservatives disappointed and frustrated.
- This ruling signals that Trump could have a smoother path to implementing his second-term agenda, particularly regarding challenges to left-wing programs that he believes waste taxpayer money.
The Supreme Court just delivered Donald Trump a surprising early victory.
But one unexpected betrayal left conservatives stunned.
And Chief Justice John Roberts shocked conservatives with this backstabbing move against Donald Trump.
Trump scores early win at Supreme Court over wasteful education spending
The Supreme Court delivered President Trump a significant early victory by allowing his administration to temporarily suspend $65 million in teacher-training grants that the President argued promoted wasteful diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
In a 5-4 decision, the Court’s conservative majority overruled lower courts that had blocked the Trump Education Department from pausing these questionable programs.
This ruling marks one of the first times the high court has weighed in on Trump’s second-term agenda, and conservatives are celebrating the win.
The case centered on teacher-training grants that the Biden administration claimed helped place teachers in poor and rural areas. But the Trump administration saw these programs differently.
Back in February, the Education Department sent boilerplate form letters to grant recipients announcing the end of funding, explaining these programs “fail to serve the best interests of the United States” by taking account of factors other than “merit, fairness and excellence,” and by allowing waste and fraud.
Eight liberal states, including California and New York, immediately sued to block Trump’s action, claiming it would somehow harm school districts. But the Supreme Court wasn’t buying their arguments.
Liberal Chief Justice Roberts sides with the Left again
The Court’s conservative Justices – Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh – formed the majority that delivered this win to the Trump administration.
But once again, Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the Court’s three liberal Justices – Ketanji Brown Jackson, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan – in dissent, continuing his pattern of abandoning conservative principles when it matters most.
In its brief order, the Court said that the challengers had “not refuted” the Trump administration’s claim that “it is unlikely to recover the grant funds once they are disbursed.”
By contrast, the order stated that “the government compellingly argues that respondents would not suffer irreparable harm” while the grants are paused. The Court said it had relied on statements by the challengers that “they have the financial wherewithal to keep their programs running.”
Trump team celebrates early win against activist judges
Lower court judges had repeatedly tried to block the Trump administration’s actions, with Massachusetts Federal District Judge Myong J. Joun temporarily ordering the grants to remain available.
When the Trump administration appealed to the First Circuit Court, the judges there claimed the government’s arguments were based on “speculation and hyperbole” and refused to lift the block.
That’s when Acting Solicitor General Sarah M. Harris took the case directly to the Supreme Court with an emergency application, arguing that these lower court rulings were part of a pattern trying to “stop the executive branch in its tracks and prevent the administration from changing direction on hundreds of billions of dollars of government largesse that the executive branch considers contrary to the United States’ interests and fiscal health.”
“Only this court can right the ship – and the time to do so is now,” Harris wrote, and the Supreme Court agreed with her assessment.
Leftists fume over Trump’s victory
The Court’s three left-wing Justices were furious with the ruling, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson claiming that allowing the grants to be terminated would “inflict significant harm on grantees.”
Justice Elena Kagan complained that “States have consistently represented that the loss of these grants will force them — indeed, has already forced them — to curtail teacher training programs.”
But their complaints couldn’t overcome the fact that the Trump administration has the legal authority to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted on programs that undermine merit and excellence in education.
This early Supreme Court win signals that President Trump may have an easier time implementing his agenda during his second term, particularly with cases that reach the nation’s highest court.
The Trump team is already preparing additional challenges to legacy Biden policies that continue to drain taxpayer resources on wasteful DEI initiatives across the federal government.
For American taxpayers concerned about government waste, this ruling brings hope that the Court will continue to allow Trump to cut unnecessary spending on left-wing ideological programs that do nothing to improve education outcomes for students.
