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President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow it to freeze millions of dollars in grants to states for addressing teacher shortages over allegations that the money was being used on programs that take part in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The case is the latest from the Trump administration’s second-term agenda to reach the Supreme Court’s emergency docket – and the latest to question the power of federal district court judges to temporarily block the administration’s policies.
“This case exemplifies a flood of recent suits that raise the question: ‘Does a single district-court judge who likely lacks jurisdiction have the unchecked power to compel the government of the United States to pay out (and probably lose forever)’ millions in taxpayer dollars?” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, the administration’s top appellate attorney, told the Supreme Court.
“This court should put a swift end to federal district courts’ unconstitutional reign as self-appointed managers of executive branch funding and grant-disbursement decisions,” she wrote.
The justices are already considering whether to limit a court order blocking President Donald Trump from enforcing his birthright citizenship order and a case involving probationary federal employees.
In early February, the Trump administration attempted to terminate 104 of 109 grants that had been awarded under two programs that train teachers in traditionally underserved schools. Eight blue states sued and a federal judge in Boston issued an order temporarily blocking the administration from freezing the funding. A federal appeals court declined to overturn that order.
The administration, in its request for an emergency intervention, claimed that it was ending the funding to the states’ programs as part of Trump’s crackdown on DEI initiatives. Officials sent a brief form notice to the grant awardees and did not provide specific evidence that their programs were engaged in any DEI practices.
The case is the latest where judges have reversed Trump moves to withhold federal funding already promised to various grant programs. It is also one of several lawsuits touching on the president’s anti-DEI gambits. The federal district court has set a hearing in the case for Friday.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who handles emergency appeals rising from the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, ordered the states that sued to response by Friday.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
