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From the Associated Press: A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” guidance and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights.
A second judge on Thursday postponed the effective date of some U.S. Education Department anti-DEI guidance, ruling in a separate case filed by the American Federation of Teachers in Maryland.
In February, the department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race. Earlier this month, it ordered states to gather 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 carry the force of law but threaten to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools were warned that continuing such practices “in violation of federal law” could lead to U.S. Justice Department litigation and a termination of federal grants and contracts.
U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire said the April letter does not make clear what the department believes a DEI program entails or when it believes such programs cross the line into violating civil rights law. “The Letter does not even define what a ‘DEI program’ is,” McCafferty wrote.
The judge also said there is reason to believe the department’s actions amount to a violation of teachers’ free speech rights.
“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,” McCafferty wrote.
READ MORE from the Associated Press.
BREAKING: Landya McCafferty, an Obama-appointed judge, just blocked the Trump administration from cutting funding to schools that promote DEI. pic.twitter.com/uicA6oSDLC
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 24, 2025
Journalist Laura Loomer wrote:
Judge Landya B. McCafferty, the New Hampshire federal judge who just blocked President Trump’s order to cut federal funding for public schools with DEI programs, was appointed by Barack Hussein Obama in 2013 to the federal bench. McCafferty was named “Chief Judge” in 2018. McCafferty also attended Harvard University, an institution President Trump recently called for to be defunded due to its pro-DEI curriculum and pro-HAMAS activity on campus.
Last year, she also blocked a law in New Hampshire that would have kept transgender biological men out of women’s sports in public schools.
Judge McCafferty was the first woman US District Judge for the District of New Hampshire. In other words, she was an Obama DEI appointee.
NEW:
Judge Landya B. McCafferty, the New Hampshire federal judge who just blocked President Trump’s order to cut federal funding for public schools with DEI programs, was appointed by Barack Hussein Obama in 2013 to the federal bench. McCafferty was named “Chief Judge” in 2018.… pic.twitter.com/UjRwixNPKZ
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) April 24, 2025
BREAKING: Judge Landya McCafferty halts push to end DEI in K-12 schools which get federal $$. Appointed by Obama. pic.twitter.com/Kle7uSAEXX
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) April 24, 2025
BREAKING: A judge has temporarily halted the White House’s push to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in K-12 public schools. https://t.co/Xm7UnIobR6
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 24, 2025
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