BOSTON, March 13 (Reuters) – A group of Democratic state attorneys general on Thursday filed a lawsuit seeking to block Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and halt it from laying off nearly half of its staff.

Attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit, opens new tab in federal court in Boston after the Education Department on Tuesday announced plans to lay off more than 1,300 of its employees as part of the agency’s “final mission.”