The Trump administration cut about half the agency’s work force, saying the move would enable it to deliver services more effectively. The attorneys general called the layoffs “reckless and illegal.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James and 20 other state attorneys general sued the Trump administration on Thursday to halt mass layoffs at the U.S. Education Department, charging it would effectively dismantle an agency without congressional authorization.

The administration "cannot dismantle the Department of Education," several states argued in a new lawsuit claiming constitutional violations.