WASHINGTON (Gray DC) – Ahead of his speech to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump is facing pushback from federal judges on his efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion. Since taking office, the president has signed dozens of executive orders, many of them focusing on eliminating D.E.I. practices across the federal government
President Trump has been telling government agencies to fall in line or risk losing funding.
D.E.I. policies were put in place to address historical disadvantages that women, people of color and those with disabilities face when it comes to getting a job or being considered for promotion.
Now, in an effort to cut excessive spending and make major changes to the federal government, President Trump says D.E.I. policies don’t fit in his “America First” agenda.”
“Notified every single government D.E.I. officer that their job has been deleted… you’re done, you’re fired.”
Dozens of lawsuits from teacher’s unions, civil rights organizations and private entities were filed after this move, claiming anti-D.E.I. orders violated their rights to free speech and due process. A federal district judge in Maryland agreed. She called President Trump’s D.E.I. orders discriminatory and temporarily blocked them from being enforced Sade’ Tidwell, a labor and employment attorney said that block could change at any time.
“So on one hand, they might pass muster under the federal level but there are a lot of local laws that are still in place that require you to have certain programs to insure there’s access and equality.”
Federal agencies are now left to navigate these laws while keeping the new rules and bottom line in mind. The ripple effect of these executive orders already hitting the private sector
Tidwell explains companies … “[They]have to make a judgement call, a business decision and say we are aware of the risk and this is what business decision we’re making. And some companies assume a certain amount of legal risks and some companies are more conservative.”
Disney, Target, Amazon, Chipotle, Google, and Walmart are among the conservative companies that were not willing to assume that risk. They almost immedietley cut back on their D.E.I. programs according to reporting by NPR and Forbes.
D.E.I. remains a focus for the Trump Administration and it is expected to be a major part if his address to the joint session on Tuesday, March 4.
On February 27, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to all Pentagon websites and content providers to remove references to D.E.I. immediately.
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