Court Cases

Education news, analysis, and opinion about lawsuits and legal proceedings
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Education Funding State Funding for Schools Is a Mess This Year, Too. Here's Why
The Trump administration's school funding disruptions have drawn significant attention, but schools are challenged by state budgets, too.
Mark Lieberman, August 29, 2025
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12 min read
A sign for a newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School on June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan.
A sign for a newly-constructed gender neutral bathroom is seen at Shawnee Mission East High School on June 16, 2023, in Prairie Village, Kan. The Trump administration's finding that a northern Virginia school district violated Title IX by allowing students to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity is the subject of a new lawsuit.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Law & Courts School Board Sues Trump Admin. to Defend Transgender Student Policy
The lawsuit challenges the Ed. Dept.'s finding that the district violated Title IX.
Brooke Schultz, August 29, 2025
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3 min read
Jackson County High School in Kentucky posts the Ten Commandments in the front hall of the school, shown here in 2000, and in every classroom, on June 25, 2025. A group of North Texas reverends filed a federal lawsuit this week to challenge a new state law that would require posting the Ten Commandments in each public school classroom.
The Ten Commandments is seen on display at Jackson County High School in Kentucky in 2000. On Aug. 20, 2025, a federal judge blocked—in 11 school districts for now—a Texas state law requiring similar displays. Similar state laws in Arkansas and Louisiana have also been halted recently in at least part of each state.
<a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?artistexact=Lexington%20Herald-Leader">Lexington Herald-Leader</a>/Getty Images
Law & Courts Judge Blocks Texas Law Requiring Ten Commandments in Schools
A federal district judge ruled that the Texas law requiring Ten Commandments displays is schools likely violates the First Amendment.
Mark Walsh, August 20, 2025
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4 min read
Attorneys from the Education Department General Counsel Office Emily Merolli, second left, and Shaw Vanze in the back, second right, are greeted by supporters after retrieving their personal belongings from the Education Department building in Washington, Monday, March 24, 2025.
Laid-off U.S. Department of Education staff are greeted by supporters after retrieving their personal belongings from the Washington offices on March 24, 2025. The department has announced return dates for a portion of laid-off staffers.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
Federal Laid-Off Civil Rights Staff Will Return to Work Next Month, Ed. Dept. Says
It’s the first time the agency—which has been under court orders to reinstate staff—has said it will actually bring laid-off employees back.
Brooke Schultz, August 20, 2025
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3 min read
President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump, right, speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. Under Musk's leadership, the Department of Government Efficiency spearheaded the abrupt cancellation of dozens of Education Department contracts, including those for the Comprehensive Centers and Regional Educational Laboratories, which a judge found to be illegal.
Evan Vucci/AP
Law & Courts Judge Tells Trump Admin. to Restore Some Education Research Programs
The federal judge found the termination of contracts for the Comprehensive Centers and Regional Educational Laboratories was illegal.
Matthew Stone, August 18, 2025
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5 min read
Students for Life of America hold a rally at Supreme Court with multiple members of Congress the night before the court is hearing Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Nov. 30, 2021.
Members of Students for Life of America hold a rally at the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 30, 2021, the night before the court heard arguments in <i>Dobbs</i> v. <i>Jackson Women's Health Organization</i>, the case in which it removed federal constitutional protection for abortion. This week, a federal appeals court upheld an Indiana school's refusal to allow a student who had started a school chapter of the group to post flyers with anti-abortion messages on school walls.
Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via AP
Law & Courts Appeals Court Backs School in Anti-Abortion Club's Flyer Dispute
A federal appeals court upheld an Indiana school district's limitation on a Students for Life club's political messages on school walls.
Mark Walsh, August 15, 2025
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3 min read
Vector illustration of a large hand holding a contract and a smaller man with a large pen signing the contract while a woman in the background is clutching a gold coin and watching as he signs.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Law & Courts Trump Can't Require Schools to Certify They Won't Use DEI, Judge Says
A federal judge appointed by Trump struck down several efforts made by the U.S. Department of Education to curb educators’ use of DEI.
Brooke Schultz, August 15, 2025
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4 min read
This is the Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington, D.C., on Monday, May 5, 2025.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building in Washington is shown on May 5, 2025. A federal judge who ordered the department to restore laid-off staffers to its office for civil rights says the agency hasn't "substantially complied" with his order.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
Law & Courts Ed. Dept. Hasn't Complied With Order to Restore Civil Rights Staff, Judge Says
The judge also said a high court ruling allowing layoffs at the Education Department shouldn't affect a separate case on agency cutbacks.
Brooke Schultz, August 13, 2025
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4 min read
Seen is an image of the hat that was included in the complaint.
Seen is the “Come and take it” hat, featuring an image of an AR-15 style rifle, that was at the center of the First Amendment lawsuit <i>C.S.</i> v. <i>McCrumb</i>.
U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division
Law & Courts Appeals Court Sides With School in ‘Come and Take It’ Gun Hat Dispute
A full federal appeals court declined to reconsider a panel's decision backing administrators who required a student to remove her gun hat.
Mark Walsh, August 13, 2025
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4 min read
The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education pictured on March 12, 2025, in Washington.
The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education pictured on March 12, 2025, in Washington. A federal appeals court has now cleared a White House efficiency unit to resume accessing the agency’s records as part of a disputed data-review effort.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Law & Courts Federal Appeals Court Ruling Allows DOGE Access to Education Department Data
A federal appeals court ruled for the Trump administration in a case brought by the American Federation of Teachers and other plaintiffs.
Mark Walsh, August 12, 2025
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3 min read
River Yang, 3, looks out the window of a school bus as it prepares to depart the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center, on May 6, 2024, in Wasilla, Alaska.
River Yang, 3, looks out the window of a school bus on May 6, 2024, as it prepares to depart the Meadow Lakes CCS Early Learning, a Head Start center in Wasilla, Alaska. Head Start providers nationwide are contending with intermittent funding delays and policy changes that have upended the program for much of its 60th anniversary year.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
Early Childhood Head Start Confronts More Funding Disruptions and Policy Whiplash
Program operators have struggled to draw down routine funding, and puzzled over how to comply with confusing policy directives.
Mark Lieberman, August 11, 2025
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11 min read
A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol, Thursday, June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. Civil liberties groups filed a lawsuit Monday, June 24, challenging Louisiana’s new law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom.
A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol on June 20, 2024, in Atlanta. A judge on Aug. 4 blocked a new Arkansas law requiring a Ten Commandments display in public school classrooms in four districts in the state. Similar laws in Louisiana and Texas are also being challenged in courts.
John Bazemore/AP
Law & Courts Judge Blocks Arkansas Law Requiring Ten Commandments Displays in Schools
A federal judge blocked an Arkansas law requiring Ten Commandments displays in schools. The law is one of three being challenged nationwide.
Mark Walsh, August 5, 2025
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6 min read
Students help put away supplies at the end of a reading and writing lesson at the Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Students put away supplies at the end of a lesson at the Head Start program run by Easterseals on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration reclassified Head Start as a "federal public benefit" similar to welfare so it can bar undocumented students from the early childhood program, but the policy is now on hold in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Law & Courts Trump Admin. Pauses Ban on Undocumented Kids in Head Start in These States
The administration said July 10 that undocumented immigrants were newly ineligible for a range of federally funded services.
Brooke Schultz, July 28, 2025
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2 min read
Students ride tricycles during aftercare at a Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Students ride tricycles at a Head Start program run by Easterseals, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration has reclassified Head Start as a "federal public benefit" similar to welfare so it can bar undocumented students from the early childhood program. Twenty-one attorneys general are now suing over that policy change.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Law & Courts States Sue Over Trump's Ban on Undocumented Youth in Head Start, Early College
The cost of compliance is so high, the lawsuit argues, some Head Start programs could be forced to close.
Matthew Stone, July 21, 2025
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4 min read
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