Three federal judges, who were appointed by former President Trump, have decided against the Department of Education's anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy.
Firing Back at the White House: DEI Programs Secure Legal Victory
President Donald Trump's crusade against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs took a hit as three separate judges, including two appointed by Trump himself, ruled against a Department of Education policy aiming to withhold federal funding for schools promoting these programs or utilizing race in certain ways.
The controversial policy was first outlined in a Dear Colleague letter sent to schools in February, with the administration planning to implement certification requirements starting this month. Schools receiving federal funding would have been obliged to provide information related to their compliance with the Trump administration's prohibitions.
In a scathing opinion, US District Judge Landya McCafferty labelled the administration's policy as "textbook viewpoint discrimination," potentially breaching the First Amendment's free speech protections. McCafferty, a Barack Obama appointee based in New Hampshire, also concluded that the policy is likely unconstitutionally vague and that the National Education Association, the administration's adversary in the case, is likely to prevail in its arguments regarding the policy's unconstitutional vagueness.
Another Trump appointee, US District Judge Dabney Friedrich, echoed McCafferty's sentiments after a hearing in Washington D.C., stating that the Dear Colleague letter failed to distinguish between lawful DEI practices and unlawful ones, making compliance review overly complex.
The third ruling against the policy came from Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee based in Baltimore. She found that the Dear Colleague letter violated procedural requirements mandated by law for establishing new agency policy.
Gallagher emphasized, "This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair. But this Court is constitutionally required to closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. The government did not."
These rulings come after the Trump administration and the opponents in the New Hampshire case reached a temporary agreement to postpone the enforcement of the policy while the judge evaluated whether to grant a preliminary injunction. With the agreement due to expire on Thursday, the rulings serve as a strong obstacle for the administration's ongoing efforts to control DEI programs.
Since the start of his second term, Trump has launched an assault on DEI initiatives, targeting several elite universities with demands for changes to their DEI programs. The administration has already revoked federal funding, arrested international students, and frozen funding for schools that have refused to comply with its demands.
Significant legal battles are being waged against these measures. A coalition of 19 states, headed by California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York, initiated a lawsuit to halt the withholding of billions in federal funds due to these new DEI-related funding conditions.
Organizations like the NAACP and teachers' associations have also joined the fray, celebrating the judicial decisions as victories for racial equity and academic freedom. The ongoing battle between the Trump administration and advocates for diverse, inclusive education promises to be a heated legal showdown.
- Judge Landya McCafferty, a Obama appointee, ruled that the Trump administration's DEI policy could be a form of "textbook viewpoint discrimination," potentially breaching the First Amendment's free speech protections.
- In a separate case, Judge Dabney Friedrich, another Trump appointee, stated that the Dear Colleague letter failed to distinguish between lawful DEI practices and unlawful ones, making compliance review overly complex.
- Judge Stephanie Gallagher, yet another Trump appointee, found that the Dear Colleague letter violated procedural requirements mandated by law for establishing new agency policy.
- Given these legal victories for the National Education Association and the ongoing legal battles against the Trump administration's measures towards DEI programs, political news and general news outlets may continue to incorporate war-and-conflicts, policy-and-legislation, and discrimination into their reporting.
- With the upcoming expiration of the temporary agreement to postpone the enforcement of the policy, the ongoing efforts to control DEI programs by the Trump administration may face significant hindrances, as these judicial decisions have served as strong obstacles.
