Federal judge temporarily halts Trump’s anti-DEI crusade

A federal judge temporarily blocked a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump aimed at gutting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within the federal government late Friday night.

U.S. District Court Judge Adam B. Abelson sided with the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education in a 68-page ruling, issuing a temporary injunction and agreeing that plaintiffs would likely succeed in their argument that the orders were both “unconstitutionally vague” and “chilling [toward] free speech.”

The ruling blocks the Trump administration from axing contracts related to equity initiatives and from requiring contractors to ditch internal DEI plans. 

The pair of executive orders from Trump’s first hours in office, aimed at rolling back federal DEI goals and purging them from the private sector, fulfilled a central promise made on the campaign trail and inside Project 2025.

But the orders created a complicated path forward for private companies holding federal contracts, which might have forced them to roll back internal initiatives or language the Trump administration deems objectionable with little guidance.

The Biden appointee noted the executive orders “do not define any of the operative terms, such as ‘DEI,’ ‘equity-related,’ ‘promoting DEI,’ ‘illegal DEI,’ ‘illegal DEI and DEIA policies,’ or ‘illegal discrimination or preferences,’ – let alone identify the types of programs or policies the administration considers ‘illegal.’”

He further ruled that the vague orders “leaves … contractors and their employees … with no idea whether the administration will deem their contracts or grants, or work they are doing, or speech they are engaged in, to be ‘equity-related.’”

The directives join a heap of Trump executive orders to face legal intervention so far: last month, a judge shot down a memo to end birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE initiatives have also suffered numerous blows in court, though a judge last week declined to fully restrain the government-slashing body.