The Trump Administration can require contractors and grant recipients to certify that they do not operate any illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, a federal appeals court ruled March 14. The order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit effectively reverses a preliminary injunction that the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued February 21.
The lawsuit, filed by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), asserts that two of President Trump’s executive orders violate the First Amendment’s freedom of expression and the Fifth Amendment’s due process. The executive orders — E.O. 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity; and Executive Order 14151, Ending Radical Government DEI Programs and Preferencing — instruct executive agencies to end DEI programs in federal grant and contract processes.
The Fourth Circuit noted that the executive orders make illegal only conduct that violates existing federal anti-discrimination law rather than all efforts to advance DEI. The Fourth Circuit’s order permits the Administration to resume inserting DEI False Claims Act certification clauses into new and existing contracts and to enforce them.
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