The Trump administration is having a tough week with Biden-appointed judges in Boston.

On Thursday, Judge Myong J. Joun of the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction blocking President Trump from dismantling the Department of Education, as he indicated he would do in an executive order and accompanying “fact sheet” on March 20. This comes on the heels of a directive by Judge Brian E. Murphy, another Biden appointee to the same court, who is trying to block the Trump administration from deporting eight criminal aliens and threatening to hold administration officials in contempt. (This morning, we posted my piece on the case before Judge Murphy.)

Judge Joun held that the massive layoffs and slashing of grants were functionally the first stages of a shuttering of the Education Department. Since the department was created by Congress, Joun reasoned that separation of powers principles prohibit the executive from dismantling it: That can be done only by Congress. The administration counters that it is managing a department that is in the executive branch; it argues that Joun is the one violating separation of powers by usurping the president’s authority to manage an executive department.

The lawsuit seeking to preserve the Education Department was brought by two Massachusetts school districts, the American Federation of Teachers, and 21 Democratic state attorneys general.

In March, Judge Joun issued what he couched as a temporary restraining order (TRO) ordering the administration to pay out $65 million in teacher-training grants. The administration had suspended the payments in connection with its campaign to stop government funding of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. On April 4, however, the Supreme Court reversed Joun, reasoning that what he was calling a TRO was really a preliminary injunction (the latter are appealable, the former are not) and that the administration was likely to succeed in proving that Joun lacked jurisdiction to issue his order. (The Court’s short order was not signed; Justice Elena Kagan dissented, and Chief Justice Roberts, too, indicated that he would have denied the administration’s application to suspend Joun’s order.)

The Justice Department has indicated that it will promptly appeal the preliminary injunction that Judge Joun issued today.