A New Hampshire federal judge on Thursday partially blocked a Trump administration directive forbidding diversity, equity and inclusion programming in schools that receive federal funding.
While the order applies only to K-12 schools or higher education institutions in the U.S. that employ a member of the National Education Association, the largest teachers’ union in the country, a separate ruling in a Maryland federal court delayed enforcement of a DEI ban nationwide.
In February, the U.S. Education Department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race, or else they would risk losing their federal funding.
Judge Landya McCafferty ruled that the directive contained “vague and confusing prohibitions” which impaired the teachers’ union’s “ability to counsel members on steps they must take to comply with federal educational requirements.”
“Ours is a nation ‘deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned,’” McCafferty wrote in her order, quoting a 1967 Supreme Court decision.
Both the New Hampshire and Maryland rulings come on the day the Trump administration had ordered local school districts across the country to certify compliance with their interpretation of civil rights laws, including what they called “illegal DEI practices.”
While leaders in some Democratic-led states had publicly said they would not facilitate the certification collection, the New Hampshire Department of Education had ordered districts to complete it by last week and had created a webpage to show who had done so.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the court order would affect the state’s enforcement of the certification requirement.
The National Education Association and its New Hampshire chapter sued in federal court in March, arguing that the guidance from the February directive relied on vague legal restrictions and would limit academic freedom by dictating what students can be taught.
The federal memo said schools have promoted DEI efforts often at the expense of white and Asian American students. It argued that a 2023 Supreme Court decision, which barred the use of race in college admissions in fact applied to all aspects of education, including hiring, promotion, scholarships, housing, graduation ceremonies and campus life.
Leaders of the National Education Association celebrated the New Hampshire ruling.
“The fact is that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Linda McMahon are using politically motivated attacks and harmful and vague directives to stifle speech and erase critical lessons to attack public education, as they work to dismantle public schools, Becky Pringle, the president of the union, said in a statement. “This is why educators, parents, and community leaders are organizing, mobilizing, and using every tool available to protect our students and their futures.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment.
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