Federal courts on Thursday blocked efforts by the Trump administration to cut funding for schools that operate programs focused on diversity, equity and inclusion, and for cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
In response to a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal judge in New Hampshire blocked orders given by the Trump administration that target what the U.S. Education Department has called “illegal DEI practices” at schools.
In February, the department said that it would use civil rights laws to punish schools that differentiate people based on their race; any schools that continue to do so were threatened with litigation and a potential loss of federal funding. Schools faced a Thursday deadline to certify that they were complying with the new rule.
Noting that the federal government has not defined what a “DEI program” is, U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty agreed with the plaintiffs that the orders were “unconstitutionally vague.” In an 82-page ruling, McCafferty also said 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.”
Later in the day, in response to a suit by plaintiffs including the American Federation of Teachers and the American Sociological Association, a federal court in Maryland issued an order with the same effect. “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. “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.”
Targeting sanctuary cities: Separately, a federal judge in California blocked an effort by the Trump administration to deny funds to cities and counties that it accuses of interfering with the enforcement of immigration policies — so-called sanctuary cities.
Ruling in a lawsuit brought by San Francisco, Santa Clara County and 14 other cities, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick of the Northern District of California emphasized that power over spending is constitutionally controlled by Congress.
Referring to executive actions signed by Trump and a memo written by Attorney General Pam Bondi on her first day on the job, Orrick ruled that the administration’s orders to “executive agencies to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funding apportioned to localities by Congress, violate the Constitution’s separation of powers principles and the Spending Clause.”
Orrick took the same approach in 2017 when he issued a similar order during the first Trump administration.