Federal Court Delivers Major Victory Against Racial Discrimination

You may have missed it, but last week, a federal court delivered a huge win against racial discrimination and gender ideology.

Judge Timothy Kelly of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia declined to block President Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI and gender ideology. 

This means that the orders, which among other things direct federal agencies to cut off funding for equity-related grants and initiatives that promote gender ideology, remain in effect.

The decision comes in response to a lawsuit by activist groups who receive federal funding and support harmful DEI programs based on race and gender identity. The groups (the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago) had sued the Trump administration over the following executive orders:

• EO No. 14151: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Referencing
• EO No. 14168: Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
• EO No. 14173: Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity

Do No Harm not only filed an amicus brief explaining how these executive orders target illegal discrimination and are well within the executive branch’s constitutional authority, but participated in oral arguments to defend the orders!

The plaintiffs, meanwhile, argued that these orders violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights, and moved for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of the orders.

The court held otherwise, and denied their motion.

“The government need not subsidize the exercise of constitutional rights to avoid infringing them, and the Constitution does not provide a right to violate federal antidiscrimination law,” Judge Kelly wrote.

Additionally, the court held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge provisions of the executive orders that only gave presidential directions to subordinate agencies. 

This is a massive win. The plaintiffs had effectively argued that efforts targeting illegal and discriminatory DEI practices were themselves illegal and violated their constitutional rights.

But as the court held, there is no right to racial discrimination.