2nd Federal Judge Blocks Trump DEI Ban In K-12 Schools In Same Day

Update (1538ET): And moments later, a second federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from withholding funds from schools with DEI initiatives. 

Shortly after US District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee, issued a similar order – U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher of Maryland, a Trump appointee, issued a broader ruling that prohibits the Department of Education from using federal funding to end DEI initiatives in public schools.

“This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue here are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair,” wrote Gallagher. “But this Court is constitutionally required to closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. The government did not.“

Siding with the groups that brought the lawsuit, the American Federation of Teachers, the American Sociological Association and a public school in Oregon, Gallagher determined that they had successfully argued that they would be irreparably harmed, and that an Education Department letter at issue likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

“This Court ends where it began—this case is about procedure,” the judge continued. “Plaintiffs have shown that the government likely did not follow the procedures it should have, and those procedural failures have tangibly and concretely harmed the Plaintiffs. This case, especially, underscores why following the proper procedures, even when it is burdensome, is so important.”

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A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Department of Education’s push to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) from K-12 schools. Raise your hand if you’re shocked.

US District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, an Obama appointee who last year blocked a law in New Hampshire that would have kept transgender biological men out of women’s sports in public schools, sided with the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in their lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the effort, arguing that the directive violated teachers’ due process and First Amendment rights.

In her order, McCafferty said that the Trump administration’s argument is “unconstitutionally vague.”

“The letter does not even define what a ‘DEI program’ is,” she wrote.

NEW: Obama-appointed Judge Landya McCafferty (2013) strikes again!

Her ruling BLOCKS Trump’s defunding of K-12 schools with DEI programs, calling it “viewpoint discrimination.”

She also allowed trans athletes in girls’ sports (2024)

Another Left-Wing Activist Judge… pic.twitter.com/motwIkq9Lv

— Publius (@OcrazioCornPop) April 24, 2025

The Trump administration has until Thursday to comply with her directive, including a prohibition on enforcing use of its “End DEI Portal” and a certification requirement it had imposed, Axios reports.

In January, Trump ordered the end of DEI in public schools and federal contractors in an executive order.

On April 3, the Department of Education sent letters to K-12 agencies ordering them to comply with the administration’s anti-DEI policies, a move which followed a February warning that they may lose federal funding for schools that refuse to get rid of DEI.