A mural by artist Tene Smith is seen near the entrance of Chicago Women in Trades, a nonprofit dedicated to training and retaining women in the skilled construction trades is photographed April 1, 2025, at the facility in Chicago. (AP Photo/Claire Savage, File)2025-08-14T21:09:12Z WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge on Thursday struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the nations schools and universities.In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland found that the Education Department violated the law when it threatened to cut federal funding from educational institutions that continued with DEI initiatives.The guidance has been on hold since April when three federal judges blocked various portions of the Education Departments anti-DEI measures. The ruling Thursday followed a motion for summary judgment from the American Federation of Teachers and the American Sociological Association, which challenged the governments actions in a February lawsuit.The case centers on two Education Department memos ordering schools and universities to end all race-based decision-making or face penalties up to a total loss of federal funding. Its part of a campaign to end practices the Trump administration frames as discrimination against white and Asian American students. The new ruling orders the department to scrap the guidance because it runs afoul of procedural requirements, though Gallagher wrote that she took no view on whether the policies were good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair. Gallagher, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, rejected the governments argument that the memos simply served to remind schools that discrimination is illegal. It initiated a sea change in how the Department of Education regulates educational practices and classroom conduct, causing millions of educators to reasonably fear that their lawful, and even beneficial, speech might cause them or their schools to be punished, Gallagher wrote. Democracy Forward, a legal advocacy firm representing the plaintiffs, called it an important victory over the administrations attack on DEI. Threatening teachers and sowing chaos in schools throughout America is part of the administrations war on education, and today the people won, said Skye Perryman, the groups president and CEO.The Education Department did not immediately comment on Thursday.The conflict started with a Feb. 14 memo declaring that any consideration of race in admissions, financial aid, hiring or other aspects of academic and student life would be considered a violation of federal civil rights law.The memo dramatically expanded the governments interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring colleges from considering race in admissions decisions. The government argued the ruling applied not only to admissions but across all of education, forbidding race-based preferences of any kind.Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon systemic and structural racism and advanced discriminatory policies and practices, wrote Craig Trainor, the acting assistant secretary of the departments Office for Civil Rights. A further memo in April asked state education agencies to certify they were not using illegal DEI practices. Violators risked losing federal money and being prosecuted under the False Claims Act, it said.In total, the guidance amounted to a full-scale reframing of the governments approach to civil rights in education. It took aim at policies that were created to address longstanding racial disparities, saying those practices were their own form of discrimination.The memos drew a wave of backlash from states and education groups that called it illegal government censorship.In its lawsuit, the American Federation of Teachers said the government was imposing unclear and highly subjective limits on schools across the country. It said teachers and professors had to choose between chilling their constitutionally protected speech and association or risk losing federal funds and being subject to prosecution.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto