2 federal judges block Trump's effort to ban DEI from K-12 education
A second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from schools that participate in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Hours after a New Hampshire judge issued a similar order on Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland appointed by Trump issued a broader ruling that prohibits the Department of Education from using federal funding to end DEI initiatives within public schools.
"This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair," wrote U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland. "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."
Judge Gallagher wrote that the group that brought the lawsuit -- the American Federation of Teachers, American Sociological Association and a public school in Oregon -- successfully proved they would be irreparably harmed and the Education Department letter at issue likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
"This Court ends where it began—this case is about procedure," she wrote. "Plaintiffs have shown that the government likely did not follow the procedures it should have, and those procedural failures have tangibly and concretely harmed the Plaintiffs. This case, especially, underscores why following the proper procedures, even when it is burdensome, is so important."
Earlier, a judge in New Hampshire said the Trump administration's attempt to make federal funding to schools conditional on them eliminating any DEI policies erodes the "foundational principles" that separates the United States from totalitarian regimes.
In an 82-page order, U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty partially blocked the Department of Education from enforcing the memo issued earlier this year that directed any institution that receives federal funding to end discrimination on the basis of race or face funding cuts.
"Ours is a nation deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned," Judge McCafferty wrote, adding the "right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs is…one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes."
"In this case, the court reviews action by the executive branch that threatens to erode these foundational principles," she wrote.
Judge McCafferty stopped short of issuing a nationwide injunction, instead limiting the relief to any entity that employs or contacts with the groups that filed a lawsuit challenging the DOE's memo.
Education groups sued the Department of Education in February after the agency warned all educational institutions in a letter to end discrimination based on race or face federal funding consequences.
The lawsuit criticized what it said was an unlawful "Dear Colleague" letter which will "irreparably harm" schools, students, educators, and communities across the country.
"This vague and clearly unconstitutional memo is a grave attack on students, our profession and knowledge itself," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a statement at the time.
In justifying her preliminary injunction Thursday, Judge McCafferty called out the DOE for taking a position on DEI that flatly contradicts its own policies from a few years ago.
"Prior to the 2025 Letter, the Department had not indicated a belief that programs designed to promote diversity, equity, or inclusion constituted unlawful discrimination. Nor had it taken the position that schools necessarily behave unlawfully when they act with the goal of increasing racial diversity. In fact, the Department had taken the opposite position," the judge wrote.
In addition to finding the policy is likely unconstitutional and illegal, Judge McCafferty also criticized the Department of Education for making funding conditional on DEI programming, though the judge said the memo "does not even define what a DEI program is," pointing to "vague and expansive prohibitions" in the DOE's letter from February.
The Department of Education has not yet commented on the rulings.
