Dept. of Education Enforcing Guidance Without Authority
Leave it to bureaucrats to attempt to force laws without the authority to do so.
From FIRE:
Second Department of Education Official in Eight Days Tells Congress Guidance Is Not Binding
The Department of Education is issuing guidance that does not have the force of law, but it is enforcing that guidance as if it were binding on educational institutions.
Earlier this week, I wrote about an exchange during a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management, where Senator Lamar Alexander questioned Department of Education (ED) deputy assistant secretary Amy McIntosh about the department’s overreach. McIntosh told the Alexander, “I tried to be very clear in my opening statement that guidance that the Department issues does not have the force of law.”
Yesterday, just a week after this exchange, a second ED official said the same thing.
Under Secretary Ted Mitchell testified that the Department’s guidance was not binding during his sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Second Department of Education Official in Eight Days Tells Congress Guidance Is Not Binding (FIRE)
Comments
The letter is certain worded to lead someone to believe that it is not just an advisory but a “you damn well better do this” direction.
As is frequently the case, it’s not what the left proposes but the lack of dissent or outrage from the rest of the left. Among other features, this letter essentially disposes of the idea of due process of law.