The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order that could eliminate or roll back significant parts of the Department of Education, a move that has already received significant criticism from Trump’s political opponents.

If issued, the order would come on the heels of Trump’s controversial decision to dismantle much of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is now under the direct authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Democrats have alleged that Trump’s plans to close or significantly scale back some federal agencies, including the Department of Education. Congress, they argue, created the department, and therfore an act of Congress would be needed to close it.

But even without congressional action, Trump does have the legal authority to shutter most of the department’s staff and programs. Rather than wait for approval from Congress — which will likely never come — Trump should simply end most of the Department of Education’s work now and let federal courts work out the constitutionality of the decision.

Ordinarily, the president does not have the authority to close parts of the federal government that have been established by Congress. But in the case of the Department of Education, Trump has every right to act, because Congress had no authority in the first place to empower the department with most of........

© The Hill