A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from terminating federal grants and contracts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as outlined in executive orders signed by former President Donald Trump. The ruling prevents the government from requiring contractors and grant recipients to certify that they do not engage in “equity-related” programs, a term the court found too vague.
“Plaintiffs have amply established a likelihood that they will succeed in proving that the Termination Provision invites arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement over billions of dollars in government funding,” U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson ruled. He warned of broad implications, asking, “If an elementary school receives Department of Education funding for technology access, and a teacher uses a computer to teach the history of Jim Crow laws, does that risk the grant being deemed ‘equity-related’ and the school being stripped of funding?”
The court’s decision also bars the Justice Department from enforcing penalties against contractors and grant recipients with DEI programs. Abelson emphasized the order’s uncertainty, stating, “The Termination Provision leaves those contractors and their employees, plus any other recipients of federal grants, with no idea whether the administration will deem their contracts or grants, or work they are doing, or speech they are engaged in, to be ‘equity-related.’”
The lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order was brought by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, other nonprofits, and the mayor of Baltimore. They argued that Trump’s directive “seizing” Congress’ power of the purse was unconstitutional and that his failure to define DEI gave the attorney general “carte blanche authority to implement the order discriminatorily.”
“In the United States, there is no king,” the organization stated in its lawsuit. “In his crusade to erase diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility from our country, President Trump cannot usurp Congress’s exclusive power of the purse, nor can he silence those who disagree with him by threatening them with the loss of federal funds.”
Trump also threatened to withhold funding from educational institutions that did not comply with his anti-DEI measures, leading to the cancellation of $2.6 million in DEI training and service contracts.
Link: NBC News