Trump adds teacher training grants suit to emergency application pile at Supreme Court  

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump ramped up complaints about the unchecked power of federal judges on Wednesday, filing his third emergency request at the Supreme Court — this time targeting millions in teacher training grants caught in the White House’s anti-DEI roundup.

Trump asked the justices to block a temporary restraining order funding millions of dollars in grants for training teachers. A federal judge issued the ruling after eight Democratic-led states accused the Department of Education of illegally cutting funds to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and reduce federal spending.

According to the Justice Department, the ruling is part of a larger trend of overreach by lower court judges. If forced to continue funding the grants, the Trump administration said millions in American taxpayer dollars would be lost forever.

“Unless and until this court addresses that question, federal district courts will continue exceeding their jurisdiction by ordering the executive branch to restore lawfully terminated grants across the government, keep paying for programs that the executive branch views as inconsistent with the interests of the United States, and send out the door taxpayer money that may never be clawed back,” the administration wrote in its emergency appeal.

When Trump appealed a nationwide ban on his controversial executive order ending birthright citizenship, his appeal focused on judicial overreach. This week, Trump filed another appeal to prevent the reinstatement of thousands of federal workers, and arguments remained the same.

In his effort to withhold funding for teacher grants, Trump accused lower court judges of usurping congressional authority by reimagining contract and grant-termination claims — which are reviewed by the Court of Federal Claims — into Administrative Procedure Act lawsuits.

“The aim is clear: to stop the executive branch in its tracks and prevent the administration from changing direction on hundreds of billions of dollars of government largesse that the executive branch considers contrary to the United States’ interests and fiscal health,” the government wrote.

Trump called for an end to “district-court fiscal micromanagement,” claiming that the time has come for the Supreme Court to “right the ship.”

The current funding tug-of-war involves the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development. Both grants were established by Congress to recruit and train educators to work in high-need rural and urban school districts.

The numerous programs that money went toward included initiatives that taught teachers second languages, recruited them to high-poverty schools and trained them on special education requirements.

According to the Trump administration, however, the money trained teachers on “divisive ideologies” like anti-racism which run afoul of the administration’s platform.

California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York and Wisconsin sued the administration, claiming the cuts exceeded $250 million in their states alone.

Thousands of teachers’ salaries were funded through grants, according to the states. Without the funding, the states predicted a worsening teacher shortage nationwide that would destabilize local school systems.

“Without these programs, impacted rural and urban schools will have to resort to hiring long-term substitutes, teachers with emergency credentials and unlicensed teachers on waivers,” the states say in their complaint. “This will harm the quality of instruction and can lead to increased numbers of students falling short of national standards.”

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