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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

Education grant payments

Department of Education v. California

Granted
No. 24A910Vacatur 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 April 4, 2025 and wiped out (vacated) the lower-court order it challenged.

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

Filed Ruled 9 days after filing

What's being asked

The U.S. Department of Education and other federal officials ask the Supreme Court to undo a federal judge’s order about education grants. The order blocks the government from ending education grants and requires payment of overdue grants and future amounts as they come due. The government argues the judge lacked authority to order those payments.

What the Court did

The Court gave the federal government emergency help (granted its application), putting the Massachusetts court’s March 10 order and March 24 extension on hold. The pause lasts through the First Circuit appeal and any timely request for Supreme Court review, but does not decide who wins. Chief Justice Roberts would refuse it; Justices Kagan and Jackson disagreed with the ruling, and Justice Sotomayor signed on to Jackson’s dissent (written disagreement).

  • Dissented
  • Wrote separately
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 4recorded against the Court's order
  1. Robertswould deny
  2. Sotomayorjoined Jackson's writing
  3. Kagan
  4. Jacksonwrote a dissent
Vote not published · 5the order does not say how they voted
  1. Thomas
  2. Alito
  3. Gorsuch
  4. Kavanaugh
  5. Barrett
The order records the positions of 4 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 9 days after filing.

What it means

The First Circuit appeal continues; this temporary order does not decide the grant dispute. No related Supreme Court case to decide the grant dispute is listed, and no argument is set on this application.

Separate writings

  • Justice Jackson, joined by Justice Sotomayor, dissenting

    Read (PDF)

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A910. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026