Diversity officers and professors sue to block Trump’s DEI orders

Published in The Washington Post on

The federal lawsuit contends the executive orders — which request potential investigations against large universities and corporations — are unconstitutional.

The 40-page federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, is the first such challenge to the sweeping orders issued in the first days of the new administration. The edicts to end “illegal discrimination” and “wasteful government DEI programs” have already resulted in widespread purges of federal workers.

The plaintiffs include the American Association of University Professors, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and the mayor and city council of Baltimore. They’re asking a judge to block two of the DEI-related orders Trump issued in the first two days of his second term and rule that they are unlawful. The groups are being represented by Democracy Forward, a liberal nonprofit legal group that successfully persuaded a judge last week to temporarily block Trump’s order to pause trillions of dollars in federal spending. Asian Americans Advancing Justice — AAJC is also representing the plaintiffs.