In March, Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating the Education Department, which he promised to do during the campaign. McMahon had already begun cutting the department’s headcount by roughly half, through a combination of buyouts and planned layoffs.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is moving ahead with a plan to cut 10,000 jobs after the Supreme Court lifted a pause on the layoffs.

"The President must take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not set out to dismantle them," Sotomayor wrote.

After a federal judge in Los Angeles barred “roving patrols” by immigration agents in seven California counties, the Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to resume operations that lawyers for the state have argued are unconstitutional.

The majority did not explain its decision in the brief, unsigned order. The court's three liberal justices opposed the order. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”