A New Hampshire judge is deciding whether to block Trump's anti-DEI directive to schools

Source: AP

Updated 4:23 PM EDT, April 17, 2025


CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Teachers trying to block the Trump administration’s guidance forbidding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in schools are trying to “manufacture harm,” a government attorney told a federal judge in New Hampshire on Thursday.

But the judge deciding whether to temporarily stop the Department of Education from enforcing the guidance said the federal agency’s own press releases contradict some of its attorney’s arguments.

In February, the Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race or risk losing their federal funding. Earlier this month, the department 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,” by April 24.

The National Education Association and American Civil Liberties sued the department in New Hampshire, arguing that the guidance in the Feb. 14 memo, formally known as a Dear Colleague Letter, relied on vague legal restrictions that violate both due process and the First Amendment. It also describes the letter as an effort to limit academic freedom and to dictate what students can be taught.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/dei-trump-education-lawsuit-5beb01b38ca18e58ce15e8b6043a630f