#WorkforceWednesday: The Ripple Effect of the Supreme Court’s SFFA Ruling for Diversity in the Workplace - Employment Law This Week®
Business Better Podcast Episode: Is DEI at Risk? Considerations on the US Supreme Court Ruling Against Affirmative Action Programs
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14173, titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The EO raises significant new considerations for private companies and...more
A recent executive order attacks DEI accreditation standards as courts block enforcement of the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter on race. On April 23, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14279 (EO)...more
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) is developing significant changes to how school discipline is addressed at the federal level. An executive order from President Donald Trump in late April requires the DOE to issue new...more
On April 23, 2025, the White House issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to investigate and hold accountable accreditors of institutions of higher education that engage in unlawful discriminatory...more
A group of 19 Democratic AGs filed a lawsuit to block the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) from enforcing a directive conditioning federal education funding on certification that state and local education agencies will not...more
On April 24, 2025, a federal judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire largely blocked the U.S. Department of Education from cutting funding for schools that refuse to drop diversity, equity, and...more
On April 23, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at overhauling the federal system of accreditation for higher education institutions. ...more
On April 24, 2025, the U.S. District Courts for the District of New Hampshire and the District of Maryland issued separate orders blocking enforcement of all, or large portions of, the Dear Colleague Letter (“DCL”) issued by...more
On April 24, 2025, Judges Landya McCafferty and Stephanie Gallagher, sitting in the United States District Courts in New Hampshire and Maryland, respectively, issued rulings blocking the U.S. Department of Education (DOE)...more
On April 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) sent a letter to state education agencies (SEAs) requiring them to certify compliance with federal civil rights laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of...more
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) took another step forward last week to ensure that K-12 school districts across the country are complying with the administration’s directives on civil rights and antidiscrimination...more
On April 3, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) issued a press release announcing the ED sent certification letters to state commissions that oversee K-12 State Education Agencies (SEAs), charging SEAs with the...more
As the entire public and private sector adjust to the Trump Administration's attack on programs focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI"), colleges and universities are in a difficult position. Like federal...more
The long-rumored plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) took a formal step forward on March 20, 2025, when President Trump signed an Executive Order calling for the agency’s closure. While headlines suggest...more
It was another big week for the Department of Education, with President Trump signing an Executive Order on Thursday instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take actions to “close” the Department. President Trump’s...more
On March 14, 2025, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of the U.S. District Court’s preliminary injunction, which will allow the Trump administration to continue enforcing the Executive Orders (EOs) related to...more
A federal civil rights agency just announced that it will be investigating more than 50 higher ed institutions to determine whether they violated federal law by making race-based decisions in their graduate and scholarship...more
The US Department of Education (ED) recently announced two separate groups of enforcement investigations to assess university compliance with civil rights obligations. The first, announced on March 10, includes 60 colleges...more
Last week, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (the “Department”) announced that it has initiated two sets of investigations against dozens of universities for alleged violations of Title VI....more
On March 5, 2025, the National Education Association (NEA) and its New Hampshire affiliate (NEA-NH) sued the U.S. Department of Education, challenging a recently issued “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) that informed schools that...more
Despite the issuance of a sweeping national federal court injunction against President Donald Trump’s January 20, 2025 and January 21, 2025 Executive Orders that seek to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”)...more
We reported last week that the pace of executive orders coming from the new presidential administration had begun to slow. While, overall, the rate does still appear to be slowing, this week has been a notable one....more
On March 1, 2025, the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document in connection with the February 14 Dear Colleague Letter (DCL). This document aims to clarify how...more
On Monday, March 3, Linda McMahon was confirmed by the Senate to serve as President Trump’s Secretary of the Department of Education by a vote of 51 to 45. Since President Trump’s inauguration, even without a confirmed...more
After giving educational institutions two weeks to comply with the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), on February 28, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued Frequently Asked Questions About Racial...more