The Trump administration has abandoned one of its major efforts to restrict diversity and equity programs in schools and colleges.
The effort was a threat by the administration to withhold billions of dollars in education funding from states and schools that refused to sign a document attesting that they did not have diversity and equity programs. Education groups sued in federal court and won a favorable ruling in August, which the government then appealed.
But on Wednesday, the administration withdrew its appeal. The federal judge in Maryland who heard the case, Stephanie Gallagher, ruled against the Trump administration on multiple grounds. She found that the administration had not followed proper procedure in attempting to withhold the funding, and that the underlying policy threatened educators’ free speech in the classroom.
The case was brought by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Sociological Association and a school district in Eugene, Ore. Randi Weingarten, president of the A.F.T., said the case was the most important of the 22 lawsuits that her union had filed, along with partner groups, against Mr. Trump in his second term, because of the precedent it would establish for limiting executive power.
“You cannot, by executive fiat, rewrite 60 years of educational opportunity,” Ms. Weingarten said in an interview, referring to the civil rights laws that protect students from racial discrimination in schools.
Though the lawsuit succeeded in staving off one threat to withhold funding, Ms. Weingarten acknowledged that the administration has “other ways of getting to the same result” of rolling back diversity and equity programs in education.
The Trump administration has tried a number of different tactics, with varying degrees of success, including starting civil rights investigations and pressuring schools to sign agreements with the administration.
For example, the Department of Education is investigating the Black Student Success Plan in the Chicago Public Schools, which is intended to recruit more Black teachers, place more Black students in advanced courses and teach more Black history. In a reversal of traditional interpretations of civil rights law, the administration has argued that programs intended to help Black children deny equal opportunities to students of other races.
At the college level, the White House has negotiated settlements with universities that it has accused of antisemitism, some of which have required the universities to limit their D.E.I. efforts. Mr. Trump has also used the bullhorn of the presidency to demand change, and many institutions around the country have eliminated programs even if they have not been direct targets.
There is no single definition of diversity, equity and inclusion. The administration has said that programs like single-race discussion and mentorship groups, set up with the intention of countering racial privilege and discrimination, violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by segregating students and reinforcing racial stereotypes. It has also argued that college scholarships reserved for students of specific races amount to unlawful discrimination.
The White House has repeatedly argued that because the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in college admissions in 2023, all racially targeted education programs are illegal. But district court judges have rejected that idea.
In her August decision, Judge Gallagher wrote that the anti-affirmative action ruling “certainly does not proscribe any particular classroom speech, or relate at all to curricular choices.”
The lawsuit had been seen as a candidate to reach the Supreme Court, where conservative justices have expressed skepticism about the lawfulness of racially targeted education programs. The court has not yet fully considered the White House’s efforts to remake education.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the withdrawal of the appeal.
Dana Goldstein covers education and families for The Times.
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