CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked Trump administration directives that threatened to cut federal funding for public schools with diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the National Education Association and the American Civil Liberties Union, which accused the Republican administration of giving “unconstitutionally vague” guidance and violating teachers’ First Amendment rights.
A second judge in Maryland on Thursday postponed the effective date of some U.S. Education Department anti-DEI guidance, and a third judge in Washington, D.C., blocked another provision from taking effect.
In February, the department told schools and colleges they needed to end any practice that differentiates people based on their race. Earlier this month, it ordered states to gather signatures from local school systems certifying compliance with civil rights laws, including the rejection of what the federal government calls “illegal DEI practices.”
The directives do not carry the force of law but threaten to use civil rights enforcement to rid schools of DEI practices. Schools were warned that continuing such practices “in violation of federal law” could lead to U.S. Justice Department litigation and a termination of federal grants and contracts.
U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty in New Hampshire said the April letter does not make clear what the department believes a DEI program entails or when it believes such programs cross the line into violating civil rights law. “The Letter does not even define what a ‘DEI program’ is,” McCafferty wrote.
The judge also said there is reason to believe the department's actions amount to a violation of teachers' free speech rights.
“A professor runs afoul of the 2025 Letter if she expresses the view in her teaching that structural racism exists in America, but does not do so if she denies structural racism’s existence. That is textbook viewpoint discrimination,” McCafferty wrote.
An Education Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
States were given until the end of Thursday to submit certification of their schools’ compliance, but some have indicated they would not comply with the order. Education officials in some Democratic-led states have said the administration is overstepping its authority and that there is nothing illegal about DEI.
The Feb. 14 memo from the department, formally known as a “Dear Colleague” letter, said schools have promoted DEI efforts at the expense of white and Asian American students. It dramatically expands the interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in college admissions to all aspects of education, including, hiring, promotion, scholarships, housing, graduation ceremonies and campus life.
In the ruling in Maryland, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher postponed that memo. She found it was improperly issued and forces teachers to choose between “being injured through suppressing their speech or through facing enforcement for exercising their constitutional rights.” That suit was filed by the American Federation of Teachers, one of the nation's largest teachers' unions.
“The court agreed that this vague and clearly unconstitutional requirement is a grave attack on students, our profession, honest history and knowledge itself,” Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, said in a statement.
A judge in Washington, D.C., granted a preliminary injunction against the certification letter after the NAACP argued it failed to identify specific DEI practices that would run afoul of the law.
All three lawsuits argue that the guidance limits academic freedom and is so vague it leaves schools and educators in limbo about what they may do, such as whether voluntary student groups for minority students are still allowed.
The April directive asked states to collect the certification form from local school districts and also sign it on behalf of the state, giving assurance that schools are in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
President Donald Trump’s education secretary, Linda McMahon, has warned of potential funding cuts if states do not return the form by Friday.
In a Tuesday interview on the Fox Business Network, McMahon said states that refuse to sign could “risk some defunding in their districts.” The purpose of the form is “to make sure there’s no discrimination that’s happening in any of the schools,” she said.
Schools and states are already required to give assurances to that effect in separate paperwork, but the new form adds language on DEI, warning that using diversity programs to discriminate can bring funding cuts, fines and other penalties.
Binkley reported from Washington.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
President Donald Trump holds a signed an executive order relating to school discipline policies as Education Secretary Linda McMahon listens in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would pull his nomination of Ed Martin Jr. to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital, bowing to bipartisan concerns about the conservative activist's modest legal experience, divisive politics and support for Jan. 6 rioters.
Instead, the president said Martin will be tapped as an associate deputy attorney general and pardon attorney, putting him in the position of recommending pardons for a slew of defendants involved in the violent insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. When he returned to office in January, Trump granted sweeping pardons and commutations of all people charged with crimes in connection with the riot, or vowed to dismiss their cases.
In his new role, Martin will also be director of the “weaponization working group” at the Justice Department. That group was created in February to investigate the work of former special counsel Jack Smith, who led two federal prosecutions of Trump that were ultimately dismissed, and other instances during the administration of former President Joe Biden that Republicans say unfairly targeted conservatives.
“In these highly important roles, Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims,” Trump wrote in a social media post Thursday evening.
On the social media platform X, Martin posted, “Eagle Unleashed.”
Trump abandoned his pick to lead the nation's largest U.S. Attorney's office two days after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol more than four years ago. Later Thursday, Trump announced that Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, will be the interim top federal prosecutor for Washington, D.C.
“He's a terrific person, and he wasn't getting the support from people that I thought,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the status of Martin’s confirmation. He signaled he had little capacity to call on-the-fence senators to lobby them: “I can only lift that little phone so many times in a day.”
Within minutes of Trump's announcement, Martin jokingly posted a doctored image of himself on social media dressed in papal garments with the words, “Plot twist” — alluding to the breaking news that a new pope has been elected to lead the Catholic Church.
Martin has served as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump’s first week in office. But his hopes of keeping the job faded amid questions about his qualifications and background, including his support for Jan. 6 rioters.
Martin has stirred up a chorus of critics during his brief but tumultuous tenure in office. He fired and demoted subordinates who worked on politically sensitive cases. He posted on social media about potential targets of investigations. And he forced the chief of the office’s criminal division to resign after directing her to scrutinize the awarding of a government contract during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Martin’s temporary appointment is due to expire on May 20.
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday that he wouldn’t support Martin’s nomination. Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said his opposition stemmed from Martin’s defense of rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Other Republicans seemed likely to oppose Martin’s nomination as well.
In response to a committee questionnaire, Martin initially failed to disclose that he made over 150 appearances on the Russian government-funded RT and Sputnik networks before he took office. He later included them in a follow-up letter.
Dozens of former prosecutors from the office publicly opposed Martin’s nomination. In a letter to the committee, more than 100 office veterans described him as “an affront to the singular pursuit of justice for which this Office has stood for more than two centuries.”
Martin also had some prominent supporters, including Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. His backers touted his record of fighting for conservative causes and his efforts to reduce violent crime in Washington.
Martin was a leading figure in Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement. He spoke at a rally in Washington on the eve of the Capitol riot. He represented three Jan. 6 defendants and served on the board of the nonprofit Patriot Freedom Project, which reports raising over $2.5 million to support riot defendants.
In office, Martin oversaw the dismissals of hundreds of Jan. 6 cases after Trump pardoned defendants, commuted sentences or vowed to throw them out. Martin also ordered an internal review of prosecutors’ use of a felony charge against hundreds of Capitol rioters, directing employees to hand over files, emails and other documents.
Martin’s opponents also homed in on his public praise for a Capitol riot defendant, Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who openly espoused white supremacist and antisemitic ideology and photographed himself sporting a Hitler mustache. He referred to Hale-Cusanelli as a friend who is “an extraordinary guy.”
Martin told committee members that he condemns Hale-Cusanelli’s hateful comments as “abhorrent and deplorable.” He claimed he didn’t learn about them until after he presented him with the award during an event at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Martin practiced law in Missouri but never worked as a prosecutor or tried a case before Trump appointed him in January. Martin chaired the Missouri Republican Party before becoming president of conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum in April 2013. He co-authored a book about Trump with Schlafly, who died in 2016.
Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed reporting.
FILE - Ed Martin speaks at an event hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., at the Capitol in Washington, June 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
