Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and other attorneys general are suing the Trump Administration in an effort to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education.
Earlier this week, officials announced that about half of the Department of Education’s staff would be cut, impacting nearly 2,000 workers.
The cuts would “not have any impact on the government's ability to deliver programming to students but is instead about ‘consolidation’ of redundant roles,” reporters were told Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed Thursday, saying the actions to dismantle the department are “illegal and unconstitutional,” according to the Attorney General’s office. “The coalition’s lawsuit asserts that the Executive Branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.”
See a copy of the complaint here.
The lawsuit also alleges the Trump Administration’s “goal of eliminating the Department of Education by any means necessary,” citing comments and claims by President Donald Trump.
According to the lawsuit, “the Department of Education is essential,” and offers a variety of programs for low-income and disabled students, prohibits discrimination, administers federal student aid, and more.
“Let’s not pretend this is about making government more efficient. It is not. It is destruction,” said AG Mayes in a press release about the lawsuit. “It isn’t about better education policy. It is about tearing down public education by those who want to privatize it for profit."
Attorneys general from 14 states, including Arizona, have also challenged the authority of billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to access sensitive government data and exercise “virtually unchecked power," in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
