Federal judge blocks Trump plan to end DEI in schools

A federal judge struck down two actions from the Trump administration on Thursday that are aimed at eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in schools and universities across the nation.

Obama-appointed Judge Stephanie Gallagher argued that the Department of Education (DOE) violated the law when the agency threatened to cut funding from schools and universities if they did not put a stop to discriminatory DEI initiatives. The ruling came down on Thursday, with the American Federation of Teachers and the American Sociological Association bringing a lawsuit in February over the Trump administration's actions.

The case centers on two memos from the DOE that said universities have to end "race-based decision-making" in admissions, hiring, and other aspects or lose federal funding.

Gallagher wrote, “The government did not merely remind educators that discrimination is illegal: it initiated a sea change in how the Department of Education regulates educational practices and classroom conduct, causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished. The law does not countenance the government’s hasty and summary treatment of these significant issues," Gallagher argued in the ruling.

Federal courts previously blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the letters earlier this year, however, the ruling from the judge claims that the DOE memos were unlawful.

“While the Department is disappointed in the judge’s ruling, judicial action enjoining or setting aside this guidance has not stopped our ability to enforce Title VI protections for students at an unprecedented level,” a DOE spokesman said in response, per Politico. “The Department remains committed to its responsibility to uphold students’ anti-discrimination protections under the law.”

The judge wrote that the "crux of the problem, in this Court’s view, is that the Letter says to teachers and schools ‘if you engage in DEI practices we deem impermissible, you will be punished.’”

One letter from the Trump administration summarized what those violations would be, stating, "All educational institutions are advised to: (1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law; (2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and (3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race," or schools would lose funding.

The teachers’ unions argued in their lawsuit that the applications of the letter were too broad to shut down discriminatory DEI policies at schools and that freedom of speech would be impacted.

One union member said that the memos place “both me and my school in an impossible situation where we need to choose between our institutional and personal values or maintaining our federal funding."

Additionally, members of the teacher's union in the Eugene, Oregon School District claimed in the lawsuit that it was put in the “impossible position, not knowing what conduct, speech, perspectives, lessons, programs, activities, or meetings [DOE] would consider prohibited by the Letter."