Employment Law Report
Trump Administration’s DEI Restrictions No Longer On Hold
By: Michelle D. Wyrick
Currently, the Trump Administration’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) are in effect, although legal challenges continue. On March 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stayed enforcement of a federal district court’s preliminary injunction that had blocked parts of the anti-DEI executive orders in a lawsuit brought by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, and the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.
The Challenged Executive Orders
One of the executive orders at issue, Executive Order 14151 entitled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” directs federal agencies to terminate “equity-related” grants or contracts. The other executive order in question, Executive Order 14173 entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” instructs federal agencies to include terms in federal contracts and grant awards requiring the contractor or grant recipient to certify that it is in compliance with all federal anti-discrimination laws for purposes of the False Claims Act. Executive Order 14173 also directs the Attorney General to develop a plan for enforcing federal civil rights laws and taking “appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.”
The District Court’s Injunction
The district court granted a nationwide preliminary injunction on the grounds that certain provisions in the executive orders violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment because they were vague and violated the First Amendment’s right to free speech. It ruled that certain terms in the executive orders such as “equity-related” and “illegal DEI” did not provide clear guidance about what kinds of programs or policies were prohibited. In addition, the district court ruled that Executive Order 14173 was an illegal viewpoint-based restriction on speech. The district court also concluded that the requirement that federal contractors and grantees certify compliance with undefined federal anti-discrimination laws violated the First Amendment by regulating speech beyond the scope of the federally-funded programs. The district court’s injunction was directed not only to the government defendants named in the lawsuit but also to the entire Executive Branch except for President Trump.
The Fourth Circuit’s Stay
The Trump Administration appealed the district court’s order and asked the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the district court’s injunction. The Administration specifically represented that Executive Order 14173 did not require contractors or grant recipients to certify anything other than compliance with existing legal obligations under applicable federal civil rights laws.
The Fourth Circuit granted the motion to stay even though it acknowledged that there could be vagueness concerns about aspects of the executive orders and what kind of programs the Trump Administration sought to eliminate. The Fourth Circuit granted the stay because Executive Orders applied only to conduct that violated existing federal anti-discrimination law and because the Administration had not yet tried to enforce the executive orders.
Now that the district court’s injunction has been stayed, federal agencies may proceed with the Executive Order 14151’s direction to terminate “equity-related grants or contracts.” (There is an injunction in place prohibiting the Trump Administration from implementing or giving effect to the unilateral, non-individualized directives in OMB Memorandum M-25-13 freezing the disbursement of all federal funds.) The Trump Administration may also require federal contractors and subcontractors to certify that they do not operate “illegal DEI programs.” In addition, the executive order’s direction to the Attorney General to enforce civil rights laws against DEI programs in the private sector is no longer on hold.
