The Trump administration secured a victory at the Supreme Court on Friday when a 5-4 ruling allowed the suspension of $65 million in educational grants intended to address the teacher shortage. The government argued that the money for training teachers would go to programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the Washington Post reports. The grants were used to help place teachers in poor and rural areas while recruiting a workforce that reflected the communities, per the New York Times.
The administration had filed an emergency appeal after lower courts blocked its attempt to suspend the grants. The Supreme Court has rejected the administration's first two emergency appeals arguing that lower courts are improperly blocking President Trump's agenda, per the AP. Chief Justice John Roberts dissented, along with the three justices appointed by Democratic presidents. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that an emergency intervention was not justified. "Nowhere in its papers does the Government defend the legality of canceling the education grants at issue here," she said.
The eight states affected contend that the programs, the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development, cover teacher teacher preparation, often in math, science, and special education, and improve teacher retention. Their lawsuit proceeds. If the states win, the majority opinion says, per the Post, "they can recover any wrongfully withheld funds through suit in an appropriate forum. And if [the states] instead decline to keep the programs operating, then any ensuing irreparable harm would be of their own making." (More Supreme Court stories.)
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