The Trump administration ran “into serious constitutional problems” by asking states to certify their school districts don’t use diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, a federal judge ruled this week.
Maryland District Judge Stephanie Gallagher on Thursday sided with a coalition of plaintiffs—including the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union, and the Eugene, Ore., school district—that sued in an effort to strike down several efforts made by the U.S. Department of Education to curb educators’ use of what it called “illegal DEI practices” without defining the term.
The plaintiffs were challenging a Feb. 14 department memo, sent to K-12 schools and universities, telling them to cease using “race as a factor in admissions, financial aid, hiring, training, and other institutional programming,” and a certification requirement, through which the Education Department threatened to withhold federal funding unless states signed a letter saying no schools used DEI.
Gallagher, along with other federal judges considering similar cases, had already agreed with plaintiffs that the Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter ran afoul of the law, but her 76-page order Thursday fully considered the certification requirement. A Trump-appointed judge, Gallagher found it unlawful.
“This court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue in this case are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair. But, at this stage too, it must closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. Here, it did not,” she wrote in her opinion. “And by leapfrogging important procedural requirements, the government has unwittingly run headfirst into serious constitutional problems.”
The ruling is a victory for the educators who have repeatedly challenged President Donald Trump’s administration for its swift and aggressive action to carry out the president’s policy agenda. Since taking office, the Trump administration has zeroed in on what it calls “illegal DEI”—issuing executive orders and launching other policy efforts to curb its use.
Plaintiffs called Gallagher’s opinion an “invaluable decision that will have a sweeping and positive impact on public schools, teachers, and students.”
“Threatening teachers and sowing chaos in schools throughout America is part of the Trump-Vance administration’s war on education, and today the people won,” the coalition, represented by the group Democracy Forward, said in a statement. “While the fight to protect public education is far from over, today’s ruling is an important victory.”
An Education Department spokesperson said, despite the ruling, the agency “remains committed to its responsibility to uphold students’ anti-discrimination protections under the law.”
“While the department is disappointed in the judge’s ruling, judicial action enjoining or setting aside this guidance has not stopped our ability to enforce Title VI protections for students at an unprecedented level,” the spokesperson continued.
Judge says administration can’t express viewpoints at ‘expense of constitutional rights’
Early into his second term, Trump signed an executive order threatening federal funds if schools used DEI, which he termed “discriminatory equity ideology.” The Education Department began working in tandem by issuing anti-DEI memos, opening an “End DEI” portal for the public to report the use of DEI, and directing states and school districts to certify they wouldn’t use DEI in order to receive federal funds. The department has also opened at least 65 civil rights investigations into school districts and colleges over alleged use of DEI, alleging violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for initiatives such as a Black Student Success Plan in Chicago.
Twenty-one states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico had said they would sign the certification, according to an Education Week tally. Twenty-five states declined to sign it. The Education Department set an April 24 deadline.
The actions sparked several lawsuits, and three judges in April agreed with plaintiffs that they didn’t pass legal muster, putting them on hold for slightly different reasons.
Gallagher, appointed to the federal bench in Trump’s first term, found in April that the administration hadn’t followed proper procedure in directing schools to eliminate DEI programs, which she said represented a significant policy change. She also found that the directive overstepped the federal government’s authority with respect to curriculum, which it’s prohibited by law from influencing or prescribing.
Her April ruling temporarily blocked the Feb. 14 “Dear Colleague” letter on DEI. Her Thursday ruling was the final finding in the case.
In the Thursday decision, Gallagher said the letter and certification requirement “both make credible and specific threats of enforcement relating to classroom speech.” She also found that the administration did not properly follow rulemaking procedures.
“The administration is entitled to express its viewpoints and to promulgate policies aligned with those viewpoints,” she wrote. “But it must do so within the procedural bounds Congress has outlined. And it may not do so at the expense of constitutional rights.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called Gallagher’s decision a “huge win” and “sweeping indictment” of the Trump administration’s actions.
“This decision rightly strikes down the government’s attempt to dictate curriculum, and, in so doing, upholds the purpose and promise inherent in our public schools,” she said in a statement.
