OPM’s guidance offers some leeway to the Trump administration’s policy requiring most federal employees to work in the office full time.

"This Court has been extraordinarily unfriendly to the Voting Rights Act over the last couple of decades," a voting rights expert told Newsweek.

Seven lawyers who spoke with Reuters cited a punishing workload and the need to defend policies that some felt were not legally justifiable among the key reasons for the wave of departures.

The majority did not explain its decision in the brief, unsigned order. The court's three liberal justices opposed the order. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”

The Education Department has pledged to carry out required functions, but questions remain about its plan for contending with the loss of staff.

Lower-court judges have already blocked several Trump's policies including an asylum ban at the US-Mexico border.