PSJD News Digest – July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025 at 4:30 pm · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hi Interested Public,

Following closely on its order of July 8th lifting lower court injunctions against an array of “reduction in force” plans across the federal bureaucracy, the Supreme Court lifted a lower court injunction preventing the Department of Education from acting on an Executive Order issued last March aimed at “Closing the Department of Education”. The implications of this latest order for student debt and federal employment generally are profound even in a period characterized by seismic shocks. (See “Editor’s Choices”)

In other news, the US Congress (having passed budget reconciliation) is looking forward to FY26; the House of Representative’s approach does not completely defund LSC but does include “dramatic staffing cuts” (per Government Executive). Public defenders in NYC are striking in increasing numbers, the defender strike in Boston is continuing to reveal structural issues, and federal defenders are working without pay after the US courts exhausted their budget; defenders in North Dakota have already stopped work.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below. Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

The Supreme Court just handed Trump his biggest victory of his second term. And they didn’t even bother to explain themselves (Vox; 14 Jul 2025)

“The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration may fire more than half of the Department of Education’s workforce — mass terminations that, in Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s words, are “the first step on the road to a total shutdown” of the entire department.

…Last week, in Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Supreme Court issued a similar decision reinstating a different Trump executive order which called for mass firings. That order required federal agency leaders to come up with aggressive plans to fire agency employees, but did not provide many details on who will be fired.

…Sotomayor [] would have waited for the agencies to release their plans, and then she would have determined whether any of these plans make such deep cuts that they amount to something like an unconstitutional impoundment.

…The McMahon case, by contrast, presented the same issue that Sotomayor anticipated in her AFGE concurrence. Secretary McMahon has already come up with a plan to fire more than half her department’s employees, and that plan was before the Supreme Court. So Sotomayor and her colleagues could determine whether any of these cuts are so deep that they effectively eliminate federal programs mandated by Congress.

Now that this issue was properly before the Court, however, Sotomayor’s Republican colleagues appear to have come out in favor of impoundment.”
- How Trump plans to dismantle the Education Department after Supreme Court ruling (Washington Post; 15 Jul 2025)
  
  “McMahon is expected to move quickly — department lawyers have already previewed the plans in court filings…Among the most important decisions is where to put management of federal student loans, a $1.6 trillion portfolio affecting nearly 43 million borrowers…a June court filing indicated the Treasury Department is expected to take over the work.”
- Agencies to ‘redouble’ efforts to rightsize their workforces following Supreme Court ruling, White House official says (Government Executive; 17 Jul 2025)
- Some agencies are walking back planned layoffs, Trump administration says (Government Executive; 15 Jul 2025)
  
  “As some federal agencies are moving forward with mass dismissals of employees after receiving the Supreme Court’s blessing to do so, the Trump administration is telling a lower court that some agencies are walking back their planned layoffs.”
- Trump admin. tells judge it can fire at least some career feds at any time for any reason (Government Executive; 17 Jul 2025)
  
  “The Trump administration is formally arguing before a federal oversight body that it has unilateral authority to fire many federal employees at any time, seeking to unwind decades of precedent and current federal law.”
- Former Chief Federal Lawyers Sound the Alarm: Federal Employees Need Your Help (The Contrarian; 18 Jul 2025)
  
  “As former General Counsels and Solicitors of federal departments and agencies, we write to ask all lawyers previously employed by the federal government to come to the aid of their former coworkers…The actions of the current administration have led to massive job losses in the federal sector and extraordinary confusion and anxiety among federal employees. These employees need counsel to understand their rights and how best to cope with a very challenging situation. All lawyers formerly employed by the federal government (who maintain an active license in any state) can help provide such counsel.”

Legal Services Corporation Funding Would Be Halved by House GOP (Bloomberg Law; 14 Jul 2025)

“House Republicans proposed cutting funding for the Legal Services Corporation, but aren’t eliminating it completely as President Donald Trump had suggested.”

Federal RIFs & Grant Cancellations

Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit (Reuters; 14 Jul 2025)
Congress is advancing FY26 spending bills, including some with dramatic staffing cuts (Government Executive; 15 Jul 2025)
Nonprofits Seek to Keep $820 Million in DOJ Grants During Appeal (Bloomberg Law; 11 Jul 2025)
Trump’s anti-union EO can remain in effect during challenge, appellate court says (Government Executive; 16 Jul 2025)
Nonprofits Taking Immigrant Legal Aid Fight To DC Circ. (Law360; 16 Jul 2025)
- AG James and 19 Attorneys General File Amicus Brief Challenging Cancellation of Funds that Provide Legal Assistance to Unaccompanied Children (NYAG James; 17 Jul 2025)
Trump Loves ICE. Its Workforce Has Never Been So Miserable. (The Atlantic; 10 Jul 2025)

“[A] 33-year-old attorney who resigned from ICE’s legal department last month…He told me that he saw frustration among ICE attorneys whose cases were dismissed just so officer teams could grab their clients in the hallways for fast-track deportations that pad the stats. Some detainees had complex claims that attorneys have to screen before their initial hearings, to ensure due process. Others with strong asylum cases were likely to end up back in court later anyway. The hallway arrests sent the message that the immigration courts were just a convenient place to handcuff people. Some ICE attorneys “are only waiting until their student loans are forgiven, and then they’re leaving,” he said.”