A new lawsuit from Democratic attorneys general in 20 states and the District of Columbia alleges this week’s mass layoffs at the Department of Education are gutting the agency as a way to implement an unlawful plan by President Donald Trump to dismantle the department.

The lawsuit claims that decimating the agency’s Office for Civil Rights will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school — violating the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Colorado's Attorney General has joined 20 other states in suing the president's administration to stop what they call the "illegal dismantling" of the U.S. Department of Education.