Judge Prohibits Dept of Education from Using Federal Funds to End DEI in Public Schools

Federal District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland issued an order to temporarily block Donald Trump’s regime from cutting off federal funds for Kindergarten-12th grade public schools that have diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

The ruling came hours after a preliminary injunction along similar lines, but with narrower scope of enforcement, by federal District Court Judge Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire. Unlike McCafferty, Gallagher did not limit the scope of her order to her district or to schools that have some connection with the plaintiff, the American Federation of Teachers. Her order is effective nationwide.

Gallagher chose to focus not on the merits of the letter sent to schools by the Department of Education threatening to cut off federal funds if the school has DEI policies or pays attention to race in a way the Department dislikes. AFT asserted in its filings that the letter implied a broad swathe of “core instruction, activities, and programs” used by teachers ranging from diversity initiatives to teaching about systemic racism may now be regarded by the Department as illegal discrimination.

Gallagher focused not on the substance, but on procedure.

She wrote that the 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.” She went on to say, “The Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) claim, have demonstrated that they will be irreparably harmed absent preliminary relief, and have shown the equities and public interest favor them.”

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