A New Hampshire federal judge on Thursday restricted the Trump administration’s ability to cut or withhold federal funding from public schools that participate in some diversity and equity initiatives.
U.S. District Judge Landya McCafferty, appointed by former President Barack Obama, found that actions by the Trump administration and Education Secretary Linda McMahon to withhold funds would “cripple the operations of many educational institutions,” and are a violation of executive branch power in overseeing local school districts.
The ruling is not nationwide, and is limited to any public schools that work with the plaintiffs in the case, the National Education Association and the Center for Black Educator Development. The NEA is America’s largest teachers union, with more than 3 million members.
The suit was filed after the Trump administration demanded that all 50 states agree that their public schools would not participate in programs that violate the Trump administration’s definition of violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
In a February letter to states, the Education Department asserted that U.S. public schools have embraced “pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences,” that “emanated throughout every facet of academia,” including schools engaging with the “false premise that the United State is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism.'”
The letter instructed schools to ensure that their policies “comply with existing civil rights laws,” or risk potentially losing billions in Title I money that helps low-income students across the country.
If the Trump administration succeeded with its attempts to keep diversity efforts out of schools, McCafferty wrote that public schools would likely eliminate teaching roles that involve race or censor teachers who teach about race.
“Would the Department conclude that a history teacher leading a class discussion on the economic development of the antebellum south has violated Title VI? What about an English teacher assigning students to write a paper comparing the persecution of Tom Robinson—whom Atticus Finch championed in To Kill a Mockingbird—to that of Emmett Till? And how would such lessons even relate to a “diversity, equity, and inclusion” program?” McCafferty wrote in her opinion. “These are not hypotheticals. School teachers throughout the country are asking themselves these and similar questions in the wake of the 2025 Letter.”
McCafferty also found that the Trump administration’s definition of diversity, equity and inclusion as unlawful is “in stark contrast to the dictionary definition of DEI” and “inconsistent with the ordinary meaning of the phrase.”
National Education Association President Becky Pringle said in a statement to reporters that “today’s ruling allows educators and schools to continue to be guided by what’s best for students, not by the threat of illegal restrictions and punishment.”
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said President Trump is “protecting the civil rights of all Americans by ending radical DEI programs that violate Supreme Court precedent in order to safeguard the Constitution’s promise of equality before the law. Any judge objecting to this effort is making a mockery of the Constitution they swore an oath to uphold.”
The crackdown on diversity and equity programs in schools is part of a broader rebuke of DEI initiatives by the Trump administration. Shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump signed executive orders directing an end to diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, and required federal contractors to certify that they do not engage in certain DEI initiatives.
