Trump administration abandons appeal targeting DEI in education

The Trump administration has withdrawn a significant initiative that sought to curb diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts across schools and colleges.

The Trump administration has filed a notice withdrawing its appeal in a case that sought to roll back more than 60 years of civil rights protections in public education after attempting to require school districts nationwide to censor classroom lessons, eliminate student support programs, and certify compliance with the administration’s unlawful interpretation of civil rights law.

The move follows a 2025 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, which sided with a coalition of national education organizations and a public school district in American Federation of Teachers et al. v. U.S. Department of Education et al. The plaintiffs challenged a series of actions taken by the administration that they argued violated constitutional and statutory protections.

Last week, the federal government formally withdrew its appeal of the district court’s final judgment, cementing the invalidation of the administration’s actions to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

“This is a huge victory for kids,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “In this case, with the stroke of a pen, the administration tried to take a hatchet to 60 years of civil rights laws that were meant to create educational opportunity for all kids. They attempted to rewrite and redefine opportunity to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion and threatened schools and districts with penalties if they failed to comply. It took a union to stand in the stead of kids and educators who feared retribution from the government.

“When you fight you don’t always win, but you never win without a fight. We are proud that this case has once again halted the administration’s pattern of using executive fiat to undermine America’s laws that enshrine justice and opportunity for all.”

This fight comes after hundreds of federal lawsuits that have been filed against the Trump-Vance administration challenging its policies and practices.

The case was filed by the AFT, AFT-Maryland, the American Sociological Association, and Eugene School District 4J, challenging a “Dear Colleague Letter,” published by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on February 14, 2025, which threatened that federal funding would be withheld from education institutions that teach students critical history, sociology, and other lessons that may reference race, provide support to students in the form of diversity, equity, or inclusion programming, or attempt to foster inclusive school environments for students of all backgrounds, among other efforts.

Following this letter, the Trump administration tried to come up with a requirement that every state and school district sign a Certification, under threat of termination of funding and criminal penalty, that they would adhere to the administration’s unlawful interpretation of civil rights.

According to a new analysis by Democracy Forward, issued today, the administration is losing court orders in these cases by large amounts – their loss rate fluctuates but has generally been between 70-80%.

The coalition was represented by Democracy Forward, which expressed the legality of the administration’s actions. “Today’s dismissal confirms what the data shows: government attorneys are having an increasingly difficult time defending the lawlessness of the president and his cabinet. And, when people show up and resist, they win. This is a welcome relief and a meaningful win for public education,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “

The court’s ruling vacated the Dear Colleague letter and the certification, holding that both are unconstitutional, unlawful, and the process the administration pursued to create the requirements did not comply with the Administrative Procedures Act (APA).

Those rulings will now stand and neither the letter nor the certification requirement can be enforced against any school in the country.

“Plaintiffs have shown that neither challenged agency action was promulgated in accordance with the procedural requirements of the APA, and that both actions run afoul of important constitutional rights,” read the ruling from Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher.

The full amended complaint can be found here, and the motion to dismiss is here.

Related posts:

Trump’s Executive Orders Force Cancellation of HBCU Workforce Development Conference Resisting the rollback: How select universities maintain DEI programs despite federal pressure Federal judge blocks enforcement of Trump DEI policy in K-12 schools The moral obligation of teaching “Divisive Concepts”