A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general, including Hawaii’s Anne Lopez, sued the Trump administration today, two days after the Education Department fired more than 1,300 workers, purging people who administer grants and track student achievement across America.

The group, led by New York’s Letitia James, sued the administration in a Massachusetts federal court, saying the dismissals were “illegal and unconstitutional.”

“Firing half of the Department of Education’s workforce will hurt students throughout New York and the nation, especially low-income students and those with disabilities who rely on federal funding,” James said in a news release. “This outrageous effort to leave students behind and deprive them of a quality education is reckless and illegal.”

The cuts to the department’s staff will cause a delay in “nearly every aspect” of the K-12 education in their states, the attorneys general said in their suit. Therefore, the coalition is seeking a court order to stop what it called “policies to dismantle” the agency, arguing that the layoffs are just a first step toward its destruction.

“All of President Trump’s executive actions are lawful, constitutional and intended to deliver on the promises he made to the American people,” said a White House spokesperson, Harrison Fields. “Partisan elected officials and judicial activists who seek to legally obstruct President Trump’s agenda are defying the will of 77 million Americans who overwhelmingly reelected President Trump, and their efforts will fail.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said that the layoffs will help the department deliver services more efficiently and that the changes will not affect student loans, like Pell Grants, or funding for special-needs students.

Today’s move was made in concert with the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

(“Neither a president nor his administration can abolish or render useless a department of the United States on a whim. Students in Hawaii—from K-12 to the University of Hawaii—rely upon the U.S. Department of Education, its programs and its public servants because they are supported by federal laws passed by Congress,” Hawaii Attorney General Lopez said in a separate news release. “There is no higher calling in government than to fight for a better future for our children. My department will proudly fight for that future, including for federal support for low-income children and students with disabilities and for combatting discrimination in education.”

( The Hawaii news release also quoted state Department of Education Superintendent Keith T. Hayashi and University of Hawaii President Wendy Hensel supporting the legal action and citing the importance of the federal DOE for Hawaii students.

(“The U.S. Department of Education plays a critical role in ensuring that students—especially those with the greatest needs—have access to the resources and opportunities they deserve,” Hayashi said. “Federal education dollars support essential services in our public schools, including special education and school meal programs, and provide salaries for more than 1,100 of our dedicated full-time educators and staff.”

(Hensel added, “The proposed elimination of 50% of U.S. Department of Education employees raises serious concerns about the future of critical student services and programs that support educational access. While the full impact on our university system is still unknown, we anticipate significant disruptions if these reductions move forward as planned.” She said that over 270 positions within the UH 10-campus network are funded through DOE. “These employees and the programs they administer play a crucial role in supporting our students—particularly through initiatives such as Title III, which strengthens UH’s capacity to serve Native Hawaiian students, and Title VII, which upholds essential protections against discrimination. Any reduction in these areas would not only affect our institution but also diminish opportunities for the many communities we serve.”)

The suit is the most recent legal challenge to Trump’s fast-moving agenda. At the core of his goals has been a push to slash jobs, programs and funding across the government. To lead the push, Trump appointed Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, to run a program called the Department of Government Efficiency. Staffed by Musk’s young aides, DOGE has bulldozed through federal agencies.

In its 52 days, the Trump administration has dealt crippling blows to several departments, including the IRS, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Layoffs have also left thousands of federal workers unemployed and looking for employment in a sluggish job market.

In DOGE’s wake, dozens of lawsuits have been filed, leading to a patchwork of injunctions and court orders opposing many of the cuts. In a separate challenge, James and a coalition of 19 attorneys general won an injunction banishing DOGE from access to the U.S. Treasury Department’s most sensitive payment and data systems.

The attorneys general argued in their Education Department suit that the executive branch “does not have the legal authority to unilaterally incapacitate or dismantle it without an act of Congress.”

The cuts announced this week would have “devastating effects,” they said. The Education Department serves nearly 18,200 districts and more than 50 million students, attending roughly 98,000 public schools and 32,000 private schools, they said. The department’s funds support programs for special education — both in public and private schools — and students in rural communities.

The move to cut staff members would lead to the “destruction of this critical federal agency that ensures tens of millions of students receive a quality education,” the attorneys general said.

The cuts have been so severe, the suit said, that they have prevented the department from performing duties mandated by the law. Seven regional offices of the department’s Office for Civil Rights have closed entirely, they said.

The civil rights arm of the agency investigates allegations of racial and sex-based discrimination, but a majority of its complaints involve students with disabilities. In New York, the regional civil rights office built up a backlog of discrimination cases after protests erupted on college campuses last year. Its shuttering could leave those cases in limbo.

The government has cast the layoffs at the Education Department, a longtime target of Trump, as a move to reduce bureaucracy and costs. The cuts would halve the department’s staff.

McMahon said in a statement that the “reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents and teachers.”

Trump administration officials have spoken often of their desire to dismantle the entire department, a plan that would require the approval of Congress and would probably trigger fresh lawsuits.

John B. King, the chancellor of the State University of New York and a former federal education secretary under President Barack Obama, said in a recent television interview that such a move would harm young people.

“It would be terrible,” King said.

In their filing today, the attorneys general said the Department of Education was essential and that their states relied on the agency for “an extraordinary array of programs.”

Although Congress has granted the secretary the authority to restructure the agency, she is “not permitted to eliminate or disrupt functions required by statute, nor can she transfer the department’s responsibilities to another agency outside of its statutory authorization,” the suit said.

The court should declare the directive from Trump to cut the agency unconstitutional, they argued.

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Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff contributed to this New York Times story.

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