In welcome good news for the Trump administration out of the federal court system, a U.S. federal appeals court today vacated an earlier injunction that had blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
In the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel vacated the injunction that would have stopped the Trump administration from eliminating DEI programming in the federal government and among federal contractors.
In February 2025, right after Trump took office and issued his executive orders on DEI, U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction to stop the administration from implementing its plans. One month later, in March, the court put that injunction on hold pending the administration’s appeal.
The injunction from Abelson came out of a lawsuit against the president and his administration by the city of Baltimore, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, and the American Association of University Professors. Democracy Forward, a leftist legal organization, served as lawyers for the plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs claimed that the president’s executive orders instructed federal agencies to eliminate DEI programs, to certify government contractors and grant recipients who do not have DEI programs, and to coordinate with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to work to deter the implementation of DEI programs.
The Baltimore district judge determined that the president’s executive orders may have violated the Constitution. More to the point, he focused on First Amendment free speech protections and due process protections under the Fifth Amendment.
According to reporting on the case, the Fifth Amendment does not allow the federal government to take away your life, liberty, or property without “due process of law.” And so, under the Fifth Amendment, government contractors would not be subject to having their compensation from the government taken from them without due process.
In today’s ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge Albert Diaz, an Obama appointee, wrote for the panel, stating that the president’s executive orders cannot be challenged directly. He said they could be challenged based on how agencies apply them to specific grant recipients, but not in a blanket fashion across the board.
Diaz, clearly no fan of the president, wrote, "President Trump has decided that equity isn't a priority in his administration and so has directed his subordinates to terminate funding that supports equity-related projects to the maximum extent allowed by law. Whether that's sound policy or not isn't our call."
Diaz had said he reached his determinations “reluctantly” and that there could be a “sinister story” behind federal programs that were terminated by an administration that may have identified candidates for cuts through keyword searches.
Having an Obama appointee reluctantly come down on the side of the Trump administration makes a court win like this that much sweeter. It will be interesting to see how the administration moves forward without lawfare standing in its way on this.
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