President Donald Trump has scored a key victory in his quest to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs in the federal government.
On Friday, an appeals court nixed a lower court’s injunction against the president’s executive order to end DEI programs funded with federal tax dollars.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Richmond, Va., lifted the nationwide injunction that was imposed by U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson, a Biden appointee, in Baltimore, NBC News reported.
The three-judge panel said that the president’s orders, which included having the Department of Justice investigate companies that utilize DEI policies, were likely constitutional.
But two of the three judges said they did not agree with the substance of the president’s orders and that those who implement them may be violating the Constitution.
“Despite the vitriol now being heaped on DEI, people of good faith who work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion deserve praise, not opprobrium,” Circuit Judge Albert Diaz said in his opinion, though that appeared to have nothing to do with the law as District Judge Allison Rushing, a Trump appointee, noted in her opinion.
“A judge’s opinion that DEI programs ‘deserve praise, not opprobrium’ should play absolutely no part in deciding this case,” she wrote.
In February, Attorney General Pam Bondi ended federal lawsuits that the Biden administration had filed against local police and fire departments over their merit-based hiring policies.
Under the Biden administration, the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights had sued local first responders for prioritizing merit in hiring rather than making decisions based on race, Just the News reported.
“Despite no evidence of intentional discrimination – only statistical disparities – the prior administration branded the aptitude tests at issue in these cases as discriminatory in an effort to advance a DEI agenda,” the DOJ said in a news release.
“And it sought to coerce cities into conducting DEI-based hiring in response and spending millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for payouts to previous applicants who had scored lower on the tests, regardless of qualifications,” the news release added.
President Donald Trump signed executive orders ending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies within the federal government, and Bondi’s decision this week marks the latest development in the ongoing effort to roll back DEI initiatives under the new administration.
Bondi’s office stated that DEI policies pose a threat to public safety and indicated that dismissing the cases represents an “an early step toward eradicating illegal DEI preferences across the government and in the private sector.”
“American communities deserve firefighters and police officers
