In Inside Courts, retired judge Tom Hodson explains the complexities of the law and legal cases, helping you understand what’s at stake — and how it affects you.
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out war against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).
During his first month back in office, Trump has issued four executive orders targeting DEI and DEIA programs in government, the military, the private sector, higher education and K-12 schooling. He wants to destroy all employment incentives and accommodations for minorities, women LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, and with mental and neurological disorders.
Trump says that DEI and DEIA programs are discriminatory against white Americans. He claims employment should be 100% based on merit, even though historically some minority candidates, women, LGBTQ+ people and those with disabilities have not been given equal opportunities.
DEI programs have not created a white minority in American corporations. A 2023 report by Qualtrics found that among the Fortune 500 companies, only 10.4% had CEOs who were women, and 1.6% were African Americans. In that year, 76% of the American workforce was white, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Most Americans view DEI initiatives favorably. In a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center, half or more of those polled said that DEI policies and resources had a positive or very positive effect at their workplaces.
Yet Trump continues his attacks on DEI and DEIA, without factual backing and in spite of what most of the country believes about it.
As we press forward, it is important for everyone to know how executive orders work and the impact of Trump’s orders. So, I will explain simply the concepts of executive orders, examine these specific anti-DEI orders, survey voluntary compliance, and delve into current and upcoming litigation against them.
What is an Executive Order?
An executive order is an order from the president for the government to take a specific action. The authority for such orders is Article 2 of the U. S. Constitution. Executive orders have been used by presidents throughout our history. In fact, President Abraham Lincoln used an executive order to announce the Emancipation Proclamation.
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued a series of executive orders advancing civil rights. He targeted federal contractors by imposing civil rights obligations on all of them.
Trump is targeting the heart of Johnson’s civil rights initiatives with his own anti-DEI onslaught.
Executive orders are not law. Instead, they are supposed to be orders to agencies of the federal government to take steps that follow laws passed by Congress and decisions of various federal appellate courts.
Executive orders also are not absolute. Congress can pass a law overriding an executive order, although now that is doubtful based on the political composition of this Congress aligning with Trump.
Federal courts also may find an executive order unlawful because it violates a federal statute or the U.S. Constitution.
Trump’s Anti-DEI orders
We will examine all four orders that Trump has issued. Please note the Orwellian 1984-ish titles that he has placed on these mandates. They say one thing and actually mean totally the opposite. The orders appear to expand civil rights, diversity, equality, and inclusivity when, in fact, they tilt the playing field towards white Americans.
Reforming the Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service.
On Inauguration Day, Trump issued this order to eliminate all DEI and DEIA considerations in hiring within the federal government.
He calls the current federal hiring system “broken and outdated” because it considers race, gender, sexual orientation and sexual identity. His order also says:
“Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’ or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex. Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.”
In short, he says straight white people are being discriminated against regardless of their skill set and there really is no such thing as being a transgender individual.
He ordered the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy to present a plan to effectuate the order within 120 days.
Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit Based Opportunity
This order, issued on Jan. 21, targets DEI programs and DEIA programs across the country in the federal government, the private sector and in academia. He wants them all eliminated.
Although he can’t control specific actions of corporations and universities, he can use federal funding as an enticement for those who comply and withhold federal funds as a penalty for those who don’t.
In his order, Trump calls existing DEI programs “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race – and sex-based preferences… that can violate the civil-rights laws of this nation.” He calls actions that level the playing field for minorities and women a “corrosive and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
This order eliminates DEI and DEIA programming across the federal government and reaches into the private sector. It affects federal contracts and any entity that receives federal money. This will affect things like medical research sponsored by the federal government and other federal grants.
This executive order also targets any state or local educational institution that receives federal funding in the form of grants or student loan funds. They must rid themselves of DEI and DEIA efforts after receiving instructions from the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education or risk losing all federal dollars.
The Attorney General has 120 days to present a plan to the president for implementing this order.
Restoring America’s Fighting Force
This third order, issued on Jan. 27, eliminates DEI programming and policies in the military.
Trump says that the current policies erode the military’s “lethality and force readiness.” He also says that they violate “Americans’ consciences by engaging in invidious race and sex discrimination.”
Translation: Giving any advantage to minorities acts as reverse discrimination against whites and specifically straight white men.
This order also prohibits the Department of Defense and the military academies from “promoting, advancing, or otherwise inculcating the following un-American, divisive, discriminatory, radical, extremist, and irrational theories,” including
- Systemic/structural racism or bias;
- The role of racism or sexism in America’s founding documents; and
- That there are more than two genders.
The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security have 30 days to give Trump guidance on how the order will be implemented and give a report to the president in 180 days about the progress of implementation.
Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schools
This order was issued on Jan. 29. It is intended to hold federal funds hostage if schools do not adjust K-12 curricula in accordance with the dictates of the order:
- Restrictions on what can be taught about race;
- Denying the concept that gender identity is different from biological gender; and.
- Engaging in “patriotic education” celebrating America’s “greatness and history” without critically examining our country’s past and present flaws. It re-establishes Trump’s “President Advisory 1776 Commission” to mandate and monitor “patriotic education.”
The policy states that the purpose of school is to “provide their children with a rigorous education and to instill a patriotic admiration for our incredible Nation and for the values for which we stand.” However, it continues,
“Parents have witnessed schools indoctrinate their children in radical, anti-American ideologies while deliberately blocking parental oversight. Such an environment operates as an echo chamber, in which students are forced to accept these ideologies without question or critical examination. In many cases, innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics. In other instances, young men and women are made to question whether they were born in the wrong body and whether to view their parents and their reality as enemies to be blamed…”
Within 90 days the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide an “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” to the President.
Voluntary compliance
Instead of a massive public uprising, numerous private sector corporations and organizations have voluntarily jettisoned anything related to DEI or DEIA. According to National Public Radio,
- These companies have softened their public position relating to DEI and DEIA efforts: Disney, Google, General Motors, General Electric, Pepsi, Intel, PayPal, Chipotle, Comcast, 3M, Regeneron and Philip Morris.
- These companies have ended or radically changed DEI programs: Walmart, Target, Amazon, Meta, Ford and McDonalds.
- The National Football League (NFL) eliminated the words “End Racism” from the endzones of the Super Bowl.
The list grows daily. On Tuesday, PBS announced that it was closing its own DEI office.
Universities across the country have either already complied or are planning compliance measures to eliminate DEI and DEIA programs, even though Trump’s order is not law. Most are doing so quietly without publicly protesting the order.
This includes Ohio University. Last spring, under a mandate from the Ohio Attorney General, Ohio University already stopped issuing scholarships based upon race and/or gender.
More dramatic changes are on the horizon for Ohio University in efforts to keep federal dollars for research and for students. I foresee the elimination of the DEI offices, including the PRIDE Center that has served the university’s LGBTQ+ community for decades.
Elsewhere in the state, the University of Akron canceled its annual Rethinking Race Forum, which has conducted programs on social justice, diversity, equity and inclusion since 1997. (The university says it did not cancel the 2025 forum, it just didn’t budget for it.)
Litigation
On Feb. 3, a lawsuit was filed in a federal court in Maryland to stop Trump’s anti-DEI orders. The plaintiffs are the National Association of Diversity Officer in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors (the group Ohio University is trying to keep off campus), the Restaurant Opportunities Center United and the City of Baltimore mayor and council.
The plaintiffs are asking for preliminary and permanent injunctions to halt the execution of these orders, which they say are unconstitutional in four ways:
- The orders exceed Trump’s authority by infringing on the spending power that the Constitution gives exclusively to Congress. The orders infringe because the president, not Congress, threatens financial and economic penalties for groups that advocate equality and inclusion.
- The orders violate the separation of powers clause of the Constitution.
- The orders are unconstitutionally vague and do not give fair notice of what is prohibited or violative of the order. This, they argue, violates the Fifth Amendment.
- The orders violate the First Amendment by creating a “chilling effect” on speech and expression relating to anything associated with DEI or DEIA.
At the date of this publication, no court order has been issued in this lawsuit.
Conclusion
In summary, massive changes in DEI and DEIA are here. The question that remains is whether everyone will voluntarily comply — or will corporations and educational institutions finally stand up and fight the orders in court?
Until then, Trump successfully continues to launch his all-out assaults on diversity, equality, inclusion, and accessibility.
