More than 175 Democratic members of Congress are presenting an Amicus report on Thursday that opposes the revision of the Trump administration of the United States Department of Education.
“The law could not be clearer: the president does not have the authority to unilaterally abolish the Department of Education,” Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote in a statement obtained for the first time by ABC News, and added: “Donald Trump is not a king, and cannot cut access to education for students in this country.”
The members of Warren and the Jamie Raskin Classification Committee in the Judiciary, Bobby Scott in Education and Rosa Delauro in appropriations lead the 15 -page legal document. They are joined by the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, more than 20 Senate Democrats and more than 150 members of the Chamber’s democratic Caucus.
The brief attempt of the legislators to block the administration of the abolition of the Department of Education supports the demand of the NAACP against the past spring. In March, that case argued that reducing the size of the department through a reduction in the workforce that cut almost half of the agency’s staff, among other measures such as the termination of legal grants programs, violates the separation of powers and lacks constitutional authority.
Senator Elizabeth Warren performs a special forum on the increase in the cost of education in the Dirksen Senate Office building, on May 14, 2025, in Washington, DC.
JEMAL CONDESA/GETTY IMAGES FOR THE STUDENT PRESERPT PROTECTION CENTER, ARCHIVE
The NAACP, the National Education Association (NEA) and a group coalition presented a preliminary court order before the United States District Court in the Maryland district this week, arguing that the consideration of the judge of this case is necessary after the recent decision of the administration to stop more than $ 6 billion in education programs assigned by Congress before the school year.
“The motion seeks a remedy for the serious damage that the Trump administration has inflicted on students, educators, schools and colleges and universities, and asks the court to order the department to comply with its legal obligations with students throughout the country,” according to a statement published by the NEA, which represents more than 3 million educators.
Raskin condemned the efforts of the administration to stop public education, telling President Donald Trump and the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, cannot abolish the agency without the approval of Congress.
“The Congress created the Department of Education to ensure that each student in the United States could obtain education in free and high quality public schools,” Raskin wrote in a statement. “This is the right of each citizen and a essential democratic safeguard against political tyranny,” he said.
“No president has the authority to dismantle a federal agency created by law. We go to court to defend not only the power of Congress but the national educational mission of the department, a pillar of American democracy,” added Raskin.
The power to reorganize the executive branch belongs to Congress and is underlined by the fact that when the presidents have reorganized the executive branch, they have done so “through the legislation and subject to the appropriate restrictions,” according to the report of the legislators.
His brief argues that only Congress has the authority to create, restructure and abolish federal agencies, must be done through legislation, and the Department of Education cannot be unilaterally abolished because it is ordered.
The representative Jamie Raskin observes while speaking during the protest of “no Kings” against the policies of President Donald Trump in Philadelphia, on June 14, 2025.
Rachel Wisniewski/Reuters
Representative Joe Neguse, D-Colorado, told ABC News that the department closed that the “vital support” of dozens of millions of students and teachers.
“I am proud to be with my colleagues in the Chamber and the Senate to maintain the responsibility of the Congress to ensure that each student has access to quality education and defend the essential work of the Department of Education,” said Neguse.
The efforts to dismantle the department have been blocked by the lower courts this spring. The Supreme Court is expected to evaluate a Massachusetts case that could decide if the dismissal of almost 2,000 employees in the agency is. McMahon has emphasized the critical functions of the department and that services such as students with disabilities, for example, could move to other agencies.
The report is part of the Warren’s Bigger Save Our Schools campaign that began after Trump signed an executive order to reduce the Department of Education.
“The federal government has invested in our public schools,” Warren told ABC News in April. “Remove that from our children so that a handful of billionaires can be even richer is simply ugly, and I will fight it with everything I have.”
The senator previously requested the Office of the General Review Agency of the Inspector General of the alleged “infiltration” of the agency’s federal student loan database. Before the Save Our Schools campaign, he investigated the dismissal of federal student help employees and how a reduction in the agency’s staff could have “serious consequences” for borrowers.
The report also occurs after Raskin and several other Chamber Democrats met with McMahon about the agency’s future. That meeting seemed to leave many with unanswered questions, such as the representative Frederica Wilson, main member of the Education and Labor Committee of the House of Representatives, which also signed the Amicus report.
“For the Department of Education to be dismantled, it will bring a surprise to this nation,” said Wilson, former director and educator of a lifetime. “Schools are the basis of this nation. When schools are working, our country is too.”
