<div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-0"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The Education Department on Friday was sued over deep cuts to its office assigned to enforce civil rights in schools, with two parents of disabled students and a disability rights group arguing that it had become an instrument of discrimination under the Trump administration.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The lawsuit asserts the layoffs at the Education Department prevent its Office for Civil Rights from fulfilling its legal duties to promptly review and investigate complaints — not just pursue cases aligned with President Trump’s agenda. It accuses the administration of sabotaging the office’s work, making it harder for women and girls, L.G.B.T.Q. students and students of color to seek protections under civil rights laws. At the same time, the suit said, the administration prioritizes claims from people who are white, male or otherwise conform to the government’s strict views of gender.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The suit also aims to force the government to rehire investigators in the civil rights office who lost their jobs this week. Over the past two months, the administration has <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/11/us/politics/trump-education-department-firings.html" title="">cut the department’s staff of 4,133 workers in half</a> and closed <a class="css-yywogo" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/us/politics/trump-education-department-civil-rights.html" title="">seven of the 12 regional branches</a> of the civil rights office.</p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Those firings and office closures have caused cases to abruptly be put on hold, fired employees and representatives of disability rights groups said in interviews.</p></div><aside aria-label="companion column" class="css-ew4tgv"></aside></div><div data-testid="Dropzone-1"></div><div class="css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn" data-testid="companionColumn-1"><div class="css-53u6y8"><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The case was filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington by the Maryland-based Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates on behalf of parents who said their civil rights complaints were left in limbo as a result of the layoffs in the civil rights office. </p><p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">“In pausing thousands of complaints filed by the public while initiating and advancing selected investigations based on the administration’s political priorities,” the lawsuit said, the Office for Civil Rights “abdicated its responsibility to equitably consider complaints filed by students and their families, politicized its work and undermined its credibility as a neutral fact finder.”</p><div class="css-1336jj"><div class="css-121kum4"><div class="css-171quhb"></div><div class="css-asuuk5"><noscript><div class="css-7axq9l" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript"><svg aria-hidden="true" class="css-1b5b8u1" height="24" viewbox="0 0 24 24" width="24"><path clip-rule="evenodd" d="M2.5 12a9.5 9.5 0 1 1 19 0 9.5 9.5 0 0 1-19 0Zm8.5 1.75v-7.5h2v7.5h-2Zm0 2v2h2v-2h-2Z" fill="currentColor" fill-rule="evenodd"></path></svg><div class="css-6yo1no" data-testid="optimistic-truncator-noscript-message"><p class="css-3kpklk">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.</p><p class="css-3kpklk">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.</p></div></div></noscript><div class="css-1dv1kvn" id="optimistic-truncator-a11y" tabindex="-1"><hr/><p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. 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