Trump Administration Drops Appeal in School D.E.I. Lawsuit

The Trump Administration has abandoned one of its major efforts to restrict diversity and equity programs in schools and colleges. The effort was a threat by the Administration to withhold billions of dollars in education funding from states and schools that refused to sign a document attesting that they did not have diversity and equity programs. Education groups sued in federal court and won a favorable ruling in August 2025, which the government then appealed. But the Administration recently withdrew its appeal. The federal judge in Maryland who heard the case, Stephanie Gallagher, ruled against the Trump administration on multiple grounds. Gallagher found that the Administration had not followed proper procedure in attempting to withhold the funding, and that the underlying policy threatened educators’ free speech in the classroom. The case was brought by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Sociological Association, and a school district in Eugene (OR). Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, said the case was the most important of the 22 lawsuits that her union had filed, along with partner groups, against President Trump in his second term, because of the precedent it would establish for limiting executive power.