The Court That Let Democracy Bleed

Guest article by Michael Cohen

In a chilling unsigned decision, the SCOTUS empowers Trump’s mass purge of the Education Department, shredding congressional authority, civil rights protections, and democratic accountability.

Let’s stop pretending the Supreme Court is still an impartial arbiter of constitutional law. On Monday, they confirmed what many of us already feared: that the highest court in the land has become little more than a rubber stamp for executive overreach, so long as it’s done in the name of “small government.” In an unsigned, unexplained order—the judicial equivalent of ghosting the Constitution—the Court cleared the way for mass layoffs at the Department of Education, allowing President Trump’s long-telegraphed plan to effectively dismantle the agency to proceed unchecked.

No full briefing. No oral arguments. No accountability. Just silence, followed by a pink slip.

Within hours of the decision, the Department of Education sent notices to hundreds of employees, many of whom had already been fired once before being reinstated by a lower court. Their new termination date: August 1. It was swift, cold, and executed with the kind of bureaucratic cruelty that only a system designed to insulate itself from consequence could deliver.

Let’s be clear here: this wasn’t a ruling on the merits of the case. The Court simply allowed the Trump administration to proceed while the case plays out. But that distinction is meaningless to the 1,400-plus employees now facing unemployment, or to the students and families who depend on the department for student aid, civil rights enforcement, and legal protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The Supreme Court knew exactly what this ruling would do—and did it anyway.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the Court’s two remaining liberals, issued a blistering dissent that should be required reading for anyone still clinging to the illusion that this Court values precedent, process, or people. She didn’t mince words. This was an “indefensible” decision, one that poses a “grave” threat to the separation of powers. Because the Department of Education wasn’t created by executive order or administrative whim; it was created by Congress. And it takes an act of Congress to dismantle it.

Apparently, that basic civics lesson was lost on the conservative majority.

By allowing the mass layoffs to go forward, the Court effectively endorsed the idea that the president—any president—can gut a Congressionally-created agency through “internal restructuring.” That’s like setting fire to the house and calling it a “renovation.” The Court’s silence doesn’t just condone this power grab; it enables future ones. It opens the door to a dangerously flexible interpretation of executive authority, where agencies can be hollowed out not by law, but by attrition.

Worse, this order comes with zero transparency. It’s unsigned. No majority opinion. No legal rationale. No accountability. That’s not jurisprudence; that’s abdication. The Court isn’t just failing to check power; it’s forfeiting its role as a co-equal branch of government. And it’s doing so with the smug indifference of nine individuals who know they serve for life and answer to no one.

Justice Clarence Thomas, whose wife’s political entanglements have already raised serious ethical red flags, was no doubt among the majority. But we’ll never know for sure, because they didn’t bother to sign their names. This is the new norm: sweeping decisions with national consequences delivered anonymously, like eviction notices slid under a door.

Meanwhile, the administration pretends this is all about “efficiency.” Education Secretary Linda McMahon—a professional wrestling executive turned education czar—issued a statement celebrating the decision as a “win for students and families.” Apparently, nothing says student success like gutting the federal department tasked with protecting them. I mean, I wouldn’t be shocked to hear Secretary McMahon tell them, “Stop whining, now you have the rest of the summer off."

Let’s not ignore or minimize the stakes here. The Department of Education isn’t just a bureaucracy; it’s a lifeline. It distributes billions in federal aid, ensures compliance with civil rights laws, and protects students from discrimination and sexual assault. Slashing its workforce without a plan—and without regard for Congress’s intent—isn’t reform. It’s sabotage.

Even the lower courts saw through the charade. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun halted the layoffs in April, calling the administration’s plan a deliberate attempt to dismantle the department without authorization. The First Circuit upheld that ruling. Yet five justices—yes, five—without explanation, decided otherwise.

This is how institutions collapse: not with one dramatic ruling, but with small, compounding acts of cowardice from people who know better and choose to look away. This Court has chosen, again and again, to prioritize ideology over impact. Voting rights, reproductive freedom, environmental protection—all casualties of a majority that governs from the bench with no regard for those forced to live with the consequences.

We are witnessing the erosion of institutional legitimacy in real time. And it’s not just about Trump. It’s about a judiciary that has become so politicized, so insulated, and so indifferent to public accountability that it no longer even bothers to explain itself.

So what now? We wait. Wait for the case to wind its way back through the system. Wait for Congress to grow a spine. Wait for the Court to maybe, possibly, revisit its decision. But while we wait, students will lose services, teachers will lose support, and a crucial federal agency will bleed out in slow motion.

The Court had the power to stop this—and chose not to. And that, more than anything, should terrify every American who still believes in checks and balances.

Because when the referees throw away the rulebook, the game doesn’t just change—it ends.

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