A Chicago federal judge has partially blocked the Trump administration's Labor Department from cutting off federal funds to organizations that promote so-called "diversity, equity and inclusion" in the workforce, because to do so, the judge said, would violate those groups' constitutional rights to promote DEI intiatives, which the Trump administration has called illegal discrimination on behalf of non-white, non-male and LGBTQ individuals.
On April 14, U.S. District Matthew F. Kennelly granted a preliminary injunction requested by a group known as Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT), blocking the U.S. Department of Labor from enforcing President Donald Trump's executive orders prohibiting federal grants and other federal money from going to organizations which promote so-called DEI.
According to the order, the injunction is nationwide, but applies only to the Labor Department.
CWIT had filed suit earlier this year, shortly after Trump signed the two executive orders immediately upon taking office in January.
The lawsuit asserted Trump's orders not only endangered the mission and continued existence of CWIT, but also violated CWIT's First Amendment rights, by essentially requiring them to renounce their mission of advocating for training programs, laws and regulations designed to promote the hiring of more women in the building trades and related industries.
According to its website, CWIT seeks to "break the concrete floor," and address what they call a "disparity" between men and women in the buildings trades. They assert that less than 5% of the trades workforce in Illinois is female, "despite federal legislation prohibiting gender discrimination in hiring."
CWIT has been awarded federal grants, authorized in congressional legislation, ostensibly to support its mission. The grant comes in the form of a cut of $5 million authorized under the so-called Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) law, which has been on the federal books since the early 1990s.
The program's dollars are administered through the Labor Department's Women's Bureau.
However, after Trump took office, his executive orders jeopardized all such funding, as part of a broader push by the Trump administration to end what they believed to be illegal federal preferences for non-white, non-male and LGBTQ individuals in hiring, job promotion and funding.
According to court documents, CWIT was among the grant recipients who were notified they must certify they are not engaged in promoting DEI initiatives or policies to continue to receive the funding.
In his ruling, Kennelly said that certification demand amounts to likely violations of the First Amendment, as he said it would force federal grant recipients to reject DEI if they wish to continue receiving federal money.
Further, Kennelly said the executive orders and guidance from the Labor Department have been overly vague, leaving groups like CWIT unclear on how to comply or what they can say without jeopardizing their funding.
In the ruling, Kennelly conceded the government has "wide latitude in making funding decisions," and prior federal court decisions have indicated that "this remains true" even when the funding decisions "may affect the recipient's exercise of its First Amendment rights."
But Kennelly said that does not mean "the government may ... use funding conditions to regulate speech generally."
And in this case, the judge said he believed the effect of the anti-DEI executive orders is to attempt to improperly silence groups like CWIT "outside the program" and its funding.
He rejected the Trump administration's contention the executive orders are intended to force CWIT and other federal grant recipients to merely follow federal non-discrimination laws, which forbid race- and gender-based preferences.
"The problem, however, is that the meaning of this is left entirely to the grantee's imagination," Kennelly wrote. "The Order ... does not define the term 'DEI' itself, and it does not refer to any other source indicating what the term means as used in the Order—let alone what might make any given 'DEI' program violate Federal anti-discrimination laws. And although the government emphasized, both in its briefing and at oral argument, that the Certification Provision implicates only illegal DEI programs, it has studiously declined to shed any light on what this means.
"The answer is anything but obvious. Indeed, the thrust of the Orders is that the government's view of what is illegal in this regard has changed significantly with the new Administration—even though the government has not (in the Orders) and has been unwilling to (in its briefs or at argument) define how it has changed," he said (parentheticals in original.)
Kennelly further said it is not enough to grant an injunction for CWIT. Rather, he said the injunction must go nationwide to protect other groups, who he said may be more reluctant to sue the Trump administration to allegedly protect their rights in court.
Without the nationwide injunction, Kennelly said those groups could choose to "self-censor" and voluntarily chill their speech rights rather than risk a confrontation that could result in losing funding.
Following the ruling, CWIT and their lawyers pledged to continue the court fight to secure a permanent injunction against the anti-DEI orders.
"... These orders target the very nature of (CWIT's) mission, and we are pleased that the critical work Chicago Women in Trades leads for dismantling barriers for women, and especially women of color, in the skilled trades, can continue without threat of enforcement for the time being," said Sabrina Talukder, an attorney with the Economic Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, of Chicago, which is representing CWIT in the legal action.
"Still, we are working to secure a permanent injunction against this enforcement, for both our client and for other similarly situated organizations that receive federal funds.We must continue to stand for diversity, equity, and inclusion, as this case is a significant step in ensuring nonprofits everywhere can continue to serve their communities without fear of retribution or censorship.”
According to court documents, the Labor Department confirmed to Kennelly its compliance with his order, indicating they had directed all of its bureaus and agencies and Labor Department officials to not require grant recipients to comply with Trump's orders to continue to receive funding.
The Trump administration has not yet indicated if it will appeal.