The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Department of Education and allowed it to cut 65 million in subsidies

The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled in favor of the Department of Education and allowed it to move forward with cutting $65 million in teacher training grants. As explained by the Trump Administration, those trainings included content related to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies (DEI).

The emergency ruling ended 5-4, with Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. On the other side was Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the more progressive wing, composed of Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson.

As an emergency ruling, this is not final, so the case could return to the highest court in the land. What it does do is allow the Trump Administration to keep those 65 million blocked until there is a final judgment.

"Respondents have represented in this litigation that they have the financial wherewithal to keep their programs running. So, if respondents ultimately prevail, they can recover any wrongfully withheld funds through suit in an appropriate forum," read the majority ruling, which was not signed.

Kagan did sign a dissenting opinion, in which she asserted that the court decided the case with "bare-bones briefing, no argument, and scarce time for reflection."

"Sometimes, the Court must act in that way despite the risk. And there will of course be good-faith disagreements about when that is called for. But in my view, nothing about this case demanded our immediate intervention. Rather than make new law on our emergency docket, we should have allowed the dispute to proceed in the ordinary way," she added.

It all started in February of this year, when the Department of Education decided to cancel disbursements under two federal teacher training grants. Specifically, these were the Teacher Quality Partnership Program and the Supporting Effective Educator Development Program.

Back in March, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, forced the Department of Education to resume these programs in the eight affected states: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Wisconsin.

Thereupon, the Trump Administration filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, as the three judges of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reverse Joun's ruling.