In a setback to Donald Trump, a federal judge on Thursday blocked US President’s executive order to dismantle the education department.

US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary injunction.

The judge ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs as part of the March 11 announcement, stopping the Trump administration from carrying out plans announced in March, reported AP.

However, the administration said it would challenge the ruling.

“Today’s order means that the Trump administration’s disastrous mass firings of career civil servants are blocked while this wildly disruptive and unlawful agency action is litigated,” AP quoted Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represents plaintiffs in the Somerville case.

What did Judge Myong Joun say in his order?

The plaintiffs painted a “stark picture of the irreparable harm that will result from financial uncertainty and delay, impeded access to vital knowledge on which students and educators rely, and loss of essential services for America’s most vulnerable student populations.”

Layoffs of that scale “will likely cripple the Department. The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true.”

Who filed suits?

– One suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts along with the American Federation of Teachers and other education groups.

– The other suit was filed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general.

What the suits argued

– Layoffs left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.

— That announcement led to the firing of about 1,300 people.

— Some education department employees have left through buyout offers and the termination of probationary employees, which combined with the layoffs have reduced the staff to roughly half the 4,100 the department had when Trump took office.