A federal appeals court Friday reinstated portions of President Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that were blocked by a lower court.
The unanimous three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the administration is likely to succeed in its February appeal, though the two judges appointed by Democratic presidents made clear a challenge could still succeed in the future.
“But my vote to grant the stay comes with a caveat,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Pamela Harris, an appointee of former President Obama. “What the Orders say on their face and how they are enforced are two different things. Agency enforcement actions that go beyond the Orders’ narrow scope may well raise serious First Amendment and Due Process concerns.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz, another Obama appointee, said he agreed and raised concerns about the recent attacks on DEI, saying such programs seem “to be (at least to some) a monster in America’s closet.”
“And despite the vitriol now being heaped on DEI, people of good faith who work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion deserve praise, not opprobrium,” Diaz wrote in a separate opinion.
But the third judge on the panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Allison Jones Rushing, a Trump appointee, chastised her colleague for praising DEI, saying it “should play absolutely no part in deciding this case.”
“We must not lose sight of the boundaries of our constitutional role and the imperative of judicial impartiality,” Rushing wrote. “Any individual judge’s view on whether certain Executive action is good policy is not only irrelevant to fulfilling our duty to adjudicate cases and controversies according to the law, it is an impermissible consideration.”
The lawsuit was filed by Baltimore’s mayor and city council alongside three national associations in early February, shortly after Trump signed a series of anti-DEI orders during his first days in office. Friday marks the first time an appeals court has weighed in on the orders, though several other lawsuits remain in earlier stages.
A spokesperson for the Democracy Forward Foundation, a left-leaning legal organization that represents the plaintiffs and has filed many lawsuits against the new administration, said the group was reviewing the decision.
The Justice Department appealed after U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson, an appointee of former President Biden, blocked certain provisions of the executive orders, including ones that ensured federal grants do not go toward efforts viewed as DEI-related.
Abelson found the challenged provisions were likely to violate both free speech protections under the First Amendment and due process protections under the Fifth Amendment.
The new ruling lasts until the 4th Circuit can fully resolve the Trump administration’s appeal in full.
