Skip to main content
Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Power to cut federal jobs

Linda McMahon, Secretary of Education v. New York

Granted
No. 24A1203Stay applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to Justice JacksonFrom United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court granted the request on July 14, 2025: the lower court's ruling is on hold while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Sotomayor, Justice Kagan, and Justice Jackson would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 38 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government, including Education Secretary Linda McMahon, asks the Court to pause an injunction from a federal trial court in Massachusetts. The government describes the case as challenging its effort to shrink the Department of Education's workforce. It says the injunction requires it to reinstate nearly 1,400 employees. The government also argues that states, school districts, and teachers' unions cannot challenge its personnel actions.

What the Court did

The Court granted the request and paused (stayed) the May 22 injunction. The pause lasts through the First Circuit appeal and any timely petition for Supreme Court review; it ends automatically if review is refused. If review is granted, the pause ends with the Court's judgment; Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissented (disagreed), and no vote was published.

  • Dissented
  • Wrote separately
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorwrote a dissent
  2. Kaganjoined Sotomayor's writing
  3. Jacksonjoined Sotomayor's writing
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Gorsuch
  5. Kavanaugh
  6. Barrett
The order records the positions of 3 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Half of 82 rulings on applications where the Court asked for a response came 10 to 26 days after filing, and the median was 17 days; this one was ruled on 38 days after filing.

What it means

The pause is temporary and does not decide who wins the underlying dispute. The appeal continues in the First Circuit. The docket lists no related Supreme Court case on the main legal questions, and no argument was set.

Separate writings

  • Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson, dissenting

    Read (PDF)

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A1203. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026