Judge blocks Trump from cutting funds to schools with DEI programs

(CN) — A federal judge on Thursday kneecapped the Trump administration’s efforts to pull government funding from K-12 public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by ruling that those efforts amount to “textbook viewpoint discrimination,” which violates free speech.

U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty, a Barack Obama appointee in the District of New Hampshire, issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the National Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Black Educator Development. The groups sued the Department of Education and its secretary, Linda McMahon, last month, accusing them of violating teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent a letter demanding that all state education agencies ensure their public schools do not use “illegal DEI practices,” which run afoul of President Donald Trump’s agenda. About a dozen states refused to comply.

But McCafferty said Thursday that the “vague and threatening” letter promises harsh penalties that are “based on ill-defined criteria.”

“The letter does not make specific how DEI programs are being deployed in a discriminatory or harassing fashion, and does not even define what a DEI program is,” the judge wrote in an 82-page order.

As such, the school systems are put in a position where they need to eliminate “all vestigates of DEI to avoid even the possibility of funding termination,” McCafferty ruled.

“Although the 2025 letter does not make clear what exactly it prohibits, it makes at least one thing clear: schools should not come close to anything that could be considered ‘DEI,’ lest they be deemed to have guessed wrong in violation of the 2025 letter’s vague and expansive prohibitions,” she said.

Additionally, McCafferty found that the suing groups are likely to succeed on their claim that the administration’s directive violates their First Amendment rights.

“The 2025 letter targets speech based on viewpoint,” she said. “A professor runs afoul of the 2025 letter if she expresses the view in her teaching that structural racism exists in America, but does not do so if she denies structural racism’s existence. That is textbook viewpoint discrimination.”

The scrutinized letter asked states to sign off on their school systems’ compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Trump claims DEI programs violate. If the states refuse, the government threatened to withhold access to Title I, a source of federal funding that provides support to low-income schools and students.

Title I is the largest source of federal revenue for K-12 programs.

“For many schools, loss of federal funding would be crippling,” McCafferty acknowledged.

In her order, the judge blocked the Trump administration from withholding federal funds over DEI initiatives from any school or institution that employs or contracts with the plaintiffs. McCafferty stopped short of issuing broader nationwide relief, writing that she was “not persuaded” that it was required that such relief would be required to appease the suing parties.

The National Education Association is a union that represents teachers and personnel at public schools and colleges, in addition to prospective educators and retired ones. It is the largest labor union in the United States, and its inclusion in the lawsuit means it’s likely that most school districts in the country are bound by McCafferty’s order.

The American Civil Liberties Union is a nonprofit legal organization dedicated to protecting constitutional rights. It is currently involved in numerous high-profile legal battles with the Trump administration, including a challenge of the government’s mass deportation of migrants under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Center for Black Educator Development is a nonprofit seeking to recruit and train Black teachers; McCafferty found that the Trump administration’s anti-DEI order threatens the group’s “very existence.”

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