Prof. Nick Bednar ’16 Quoted by Boston Globe About Trump’s Attempt to Dismantle Department of Education

Professor Nick Bednar ’16 was quoted by the Boston Globe about the lawsuit filed to stop the Trump administration from laying off half of the Department of Education’s staff in an effort to dismantle the agency. The lawsuit filed in federal court by 20 states argued Trump does not have the authority to shutter the agency which administers critical funding to support millions of students, including low-income students and children with disabilities, operates civil rights offices that investigates claims students have faced discrimination, and administers federal loans to make higher education more affordable to students. But Prof. Bednar said the attorneys general who filed the lawsuit may face an uphill battle as they’ll have to demonstrate they have the standing to challenge the layoffs, which has been challenging for plaintiffs in other cases, including labor unions. He said they’ll have to “establish the unlawfulness” of the layoffs and that generally agencies have discretion in deciding the size of their workforces and how to allocate resources.