The Court That Let Democracy Bleed

The Court That Let Democracy Bleed
MeidasTouch Network and
Michael Cohen
Jul 15, 2025

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.