Moms for Liberty co-founder floated for Education Secretary

Historically, Florida has been underrepresented in the upper echelons of the executive branch, but the incoming administration will seemingly balance the scales.

As President-elect Donald Trump gears up to return to the White House, Florida politicians have been at the top of his list for some of the highest-ranking posts outside of the presidency itself, chief among them U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who is rumored to be Trump’s pick for Secretary of State.

Another pick running through the rumor mill: Tiffany Justice for Education Secretary.

Justice is the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a Florida-grown conservative organization that rose to prominence for spearheading the book ban zeitgeist of the post-pandemic era and employing “groomer” rhetoric during debates over culture war school legislation, such as Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.

The prospect of a Secretary Justice is likely to trigger Democrats; there is little they can do outside of a filibuster to stymie the pick — when the next Congress is sworn in, the GOP will control at least 51 seats, and the Governors who will appoint Rubio’s and incoming Vice President JD Vance’s replacements are both Republicans.

Among the early arguments against Justice, the foremost is her lack of a college degree, which may be met with criticism from one or two moderate Republican Senators but is unlikely to push any into the “nay” camp.

It’s possible Justice could get “yes” votes from Democrats on the conservative end of the party spectrum, such as Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, who has already committed to upvoting Rubio for Secretary of State.

Before the election, Justice said she would be “honored to serve” as Education Secretary.

“I think there’s a cultural revolution happening in America, and I think our schools are being used as one of the major battlefields. And so, I’m willing to serve in the next administration; however, I need to because we have got a country to save,” she told media in September in what some onlookers wrote off as a test balloon.

The timeline for when Trump will announce his pick for Education Secretary is unknown, and his campaign pledge to outright shutter the U.S. Department of Education contributes to the lack of clarity.

If the first Trump administration offers any insight, the pick could be among the President-elect’s first — former Secretary Betsy DeVos was an early Trump appointee (and a similarly controversial one) and was confirmed to the post about two weeks after Trump’s inauguration.