A federal judge blocked Trump administration directives on Thursday that threatened to reduce federal funding For public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The decision came in a trial brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the republican administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” advice and to violate the rights of the first amendment to teachers.
A second judge of Maryland postponed Thursday the date of entry into force of certain anti-DEDE advice from the American education department, and a third judge in Washington, DC, prevented another provision from taking effect.
In February, the department told schools and colleges that they had to end any practice that differentiates people according to their race. Earlier this month, he ordered states to collect signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal dei practices”.
The directives do not bear the strength of the law but threaten to use the application of civil rights to rid of schools of Dei practices. Schools have been warned that the pursuit of these practices “in violation of federal law” could lead to the dispute of the US Ministry of Justice and aTermination of federal subsidies and contracts.
The judge of the American district court Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire said that the April letter does not clearly show what the department believes that a program of I implies or when these programs cross the line of violation of the civil rights law. “The letter does not even define what a” program ofi “is,” wrote McCafferty.
The judge also declared that there were reasons to believe that the actions of the ministry constitute a violation of the rights to the freedom of expression of the teachers.
“A professor presents himself against the letter of 2025 if she expresses opinion in her teaching that structural racism exists in America, but does not do so if it denies the existence of structural racism. It is discrimination from the point of view of the manual,” wrote McCafferty.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
The states were given until the end of Thursday to subject the certification of the compliance of their schools, but some have indicated that they would not comply with the order. Education officials in certain States led by Democrats have declared that the administrationgo beyondAnd that there is nothing illegal about Dei.
The Memo of February 14 of the department, officially known as a letter from “dear colleague”, said that schools have promoted DEI efforts at the expense of American white and Asian students. It considerably expands the interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision prohibiting the use of the race in university admission to all aspects of education, in particular, hiring, promotion, scholarships, housing, graduation ceremonies and campus life.
In the decision of Maryland, the American district judge Stephanie Gallagher postponed this note. She noted that it was badly issued and forced teachers to choose between “injuring themselves by eliminating their speech or by facing the application for having exercised their constitutional rights”. This prosecution was filed by the American teachers ‘federation, one of the largest teachers’ unions in the country.
“The court agreed that this vague and clearly unconstitutional requirement is a serious attack on students, our profession, our honest history and its knowledge itself,” said Randi Weingarten, president of AFT, in a statement.
A Washington judge, DC, granted a preliminary injunction against the certification letter after the NAACP argued that he had not identified specific Dei practices which would continue on the law.
The three prosecutions argue that the orientation limits academic freedom and is so vague that it leaves schools and educators in limbo on what they can do, such as volunteer students for minority students are still authorized.
The April Directive asked the States to collect the certification form in local school districts and to sign it in the name of the State, giving assurance that schools are in accordance with title VI of the 1964 civil rights law.
President Donald Trump’s education secretary Linda McMahon warned against potential funding reductions if the States do not refer the form by Friday.
In an interview on Tuesday on Fox Business Network, McMahon said that states that refuse to sign could “risk a little funding in their districts”. The purpose of the form is “to ensure that there is no discrimination that occurs in any of the schools,” she said.
Schools and states are already required to give assurances to this purpose in separate documents, but the new form adds a language on DEI, warning that the use of diversity programs to discriminate can cause financing cuts, fines and other penalties.
The form threatens school access to title I, the greatest federal source of income for kindergarten education in the 12th year and a rescue buoy for schools in low -income areas.
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
