Attorney General Ellison sues to stop dismantling of Department of Education and protect students

Joins coalition of 21 AGs in claiming dismantling Department violates Constitution and federal law, usurps Congress’s authority; seeks court order to halt shutdown

Department programs serve 50M K-12 students and 12M postsecondary students across country

March 13, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a coalition of 21 total attorneys general in suing the Trump administration to stop the dismantling of the Department of Education (ED). On Tuesday, March 11, the Trump administration announced that ED would be firing approximately 50 percent of its workforce as part of its goal of a “total shutdown” of the Department. Today, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the targeted destruction of this critical federal agency that ensures tens of millions of students receive a high-quality education and critical resources.

“I’ll say it as often as I have to: Donald Trump is not a king and I will not let him be a dictator. He does not have the authority to effectively shut down an entire federal department that is authorized by Congress, and his attempt to do so is illegal and unconstitutional,” Attorney General Ellison said. “I’m joining my fellow attorneys general to hold him accountable and to protect the tens of millions of American students — not to mention their families and their teachers, administrators, and paraprofessionals — who rely on the Department for high-quality education and the support they need to succeed in school.

“When our children succeed, we all succeed. The fact that Donald Trump has launched yet another attack on our children is another proof point that the only people in America he’s delivering for are billionaires,” Attorney General Ellison continued.

The Department of Education’s programs serve nearly 18,200 school districts and more than 50,000,000 K-12 students who attend roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools throughout the country. Its higher education programs provide services and support to more than 12,000,000 postsecondary students annually. Students with disabilities and students from low-income families are some of the primary beneficiaries of ED services and funding. Federal ED funds for special education include support for assistive technology for students with disabilities, teacher salaries and benefits, transportation to help children receive the services and programming they need, physical therapy and speech therapy services, and social workers to help manage students’ educational experience. The ED also supports students in rural communities by offering programs designed to help rural school districts that often lack the personnel and resources needed to compete for competitive grants.

As Attorney General Ellison and the coalition assert in the lawsuit, dismantling ED will have devastating effects for states like Minnesota. The administration’s lay-off is so massive that ED will be incapacitated and unable to perform essential functions. As the lawsuit asserts, the administration’s actions will deprive students with special needs of critical resources and support. They will gut ED’s Office of Civil Rights, which protects students from discrimination and sexual assault. They would additionally hamstring the processing of financial aid, raising costs for college and university students who will have a harder time accessing loans, Pell Grants, and work study programs.

With this lawsuit, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition are seeking a court order to stop the administration’s policies to dismantle ED by drastically cutting its workforce and programs. Attorney General Ellison and the coalition argue that the administration’s actions to dismantle ED are illegal and unconstitutional. The Department is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous different laws creating its various programs and funding streams. 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.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.