Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools & colleges

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colleges.

The Education Department, in a court filing Wednesday, moved to dismiss its appeal. It leaves in place a federal judge’s August decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment and federal procedural rules.

The dispute centered on federal guidance telling schools and colleges they would lose federal money if they kept a wide range of practices that the Republican administration labeled as diversity, equity and inclusion.
The department did not immediately comment.

Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy firm representing the plaintiffs, said the dismissal was “a welcome relief and a meaningful win for public education.”

“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,” said Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO.

The department sent the anti-DEI warning in a “Dear Colleague Letter” to schools last February.