NAACP Fights Back Against Trump’s DOE Executive Order With Lawsuit

Trump instructed newly-appointed Education secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal agency as far as she can go - legally.

The NAACP and the country’s largest teacher’s union, the National Education Association, and others filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE), calling the move unconstitutional, The Hill reports.

All advocacy groups, in addition to the parents of public school students, allege the President exceeded his constitutional authority in addition to violating the Administrative Procedure Act. “Taken together, Defendants’ steps since January 20, 2025, constitute a de facto dismantling of the Department by executive fiat …” the suit reads. “But the Constitution gives power over ‘the establishment of offices [and] the determination of their functions and jurisdiction’ to Congress — not to the President or any officer working under him.”

The litigation comes just days after Trump signed the executive order on Thursday, March 20 staged in a classroom-like setting, instructing newly-appointed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal agency as far as she can go — legally. Eliminating the agency would rid federal funding to public schools across the country, leaving it up to state leaders to move in the way they want.

In a statement, NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson called Trump out for making a decision that he seemingly doesn’t have the power to do. He called the order a “dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education.” Let’s be clear — this executive order is unconstitutional, but to Donald Trump, the rule of law doesn’t seem to matter. Only Congress can establish or abolish an executive agency,” Johnson said, according to a press release on the group’s website.

“Trump is not just seeking to shut down an agency, he is deliberately dismantling the basic functions of our democracy, one piece at a time.”

Johnson highlighted how the order would affect children in “poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump” but advises on who is on the winning end of the change. “Don’t be fooled, Trump doesn’t have your back, he only cares about the billionaire class who will profit from the privatization of essential services, including education,” he continues.

“As recent polls indicate, Trump’s actions are far out of line with the American people.”

Prior to signing the order, McMahon reduced the department workforce to 50% of its original size, staying open with just over 2,000 workers. Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications for DOE, is pointing the finger back at the advocacy groups, alleging it is them that is “….misleading the American public to keep their stranglehold on the American education bureaucracy.”

“The union is also forcing the Department to waste resources on litigation instead of the programs the union claims to care about and the kids this Administration is fighting for,” Biedermann added.

Robert Kim, executive director of the Education Law Center, who also joined the lawsuit, says Trump’s moves are more than unconstitutional but harmful. “The Trump Administration’s effort to dismantle the Department of Education is not only illegal; it inflicts great harm on students, schools, and communities across the country,” Kim said. This isn’t the only lawsuit moving toward Trump and his administration. A suit filed by the American Federation of Teachers, along with several public school districts and organizations, is asking for a judge to stop the order and project the actions as illegal.