OAN Staff Abril Elfi
1:31 PM – Thursday, April 24, 2025
A New Hampshire federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting funding to U.S. public schools who maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
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U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty argued that the U.S. Education Department’s effort to block federal funding for public schools that continue to promote DEI programs “likely violates the First Amendment,” presenting “textbook viewpoint discrimination.”
The Education Department issued a directive to public schools nationwide this month, cautioning that institutions found to be “unfairly” prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, particularly those that favor individuals based on specific racial or gender criteria, would face the withdrawal of Title I federal funding.
This warning comes under the purview of education officials appointed during the Trump administration.
However, McCafferty’s decision fell short of granting a national injunction to halt the policy in all 50 states. Nonetheless, it prohibits the Trump administration from stopping the transfer of Title I funding to any schools that employ or contract with the plaintiffs in the action.
“The right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs is … one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes,” McCafferty said in her 82-page opinion, adding that the actions taken by the Education Department “threate[n] to erode these foundational principles.”
The judge also added that the Trump administration failed to furnish the court with a comprehensive definition of the DEI programs that were jeopardized as a result of the anti-DEI campaign.
The move comes after Trump administration officials and plaintiffs in the lawsuit negotiated a temporary deal to postpone the policy’s implementation.
The arrangement was set to expire on Thursday, compelling the court to rule on the matter.
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