Posted on 02/21/2025 7:03:28 PM PST by KingofZion
A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked key portions of President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and corporate America.
Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend. U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson granted a preliminary injunction on Friday that bars portions of Trump’s orders to cancel federal contracts with DEI components and require government contractors to certify that they do not engage in DEI practices that violate antidiscrimination laws. The order also prohibits enforcement against publicly traded companies and large universities with comparable policies.
In reference to enforcement against companies and universities, Abelson noted that the plaintiffs were “likely” to succeed on their claim that such actions would violate constitutionally protected free speech.
“That is textbook viewpoint-based discrimination,” Abelson wrote. “The government’s threat of enforcement is not just targeted towards enforcement of federal law. Rather, the provision expressly targets, and threatens, the expression of views supportive of equity, diversity and inclusion.”
The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of diversity officers, professors and restaurant worker advocates. Skye Perryman, president and chief executive of Democracy Forward, a left-leaning nonprofit that filed the lawsuit on their behalf, said in a statement that the “Constitution protects all Americans — whether you are a university professor or a restaurant worker — from unlawful intrusion on speech, ideas, and expression and entitles all Americans to fair process.”
“We are grateful for the court’s decision to pause these harmful Executive Orders while it takes a careful look at how the orders blatantly violate our Constitution,” Perryman added.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nobody is prohibiting free speech - they can say whatever they like. They just can't get fed funds if they violate the law. And Executive branch has every right to require certifications that grant recipients are complying with federal law.
This judge was appointed 5 months ago , just this past Sept. and was a magistrate judge for just one year before that. He’s got 1 year and 5 months under his belt.
https://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/sites/mdd/files/Abelson%20DJ%20Announcement.pdf
Once the judge gets slapped down, two years in the penalty box for him.
Just ignore it....
THAT JUDGE IS OUT OF HIS/HER LANE AND LOST IN EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL SPACE.
BAN THAT JUDGE FROM USING ALL U.S. GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, PROPERTIES, FORMS OF COMMUNICATIONS, AND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS.
Yup—they can say they hate white males.
They just can’t discriminate against them.
He/She was just wanting to judge and get name in X.
DEI is purposely an act of malice to dissemble FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION.
Acts of discrimination are not free speech?
““The government’s threat of enforcement is not just targeted towards enforcement of federal law. Rather, the provision expressly targets, and threatens, the expression of views supportive of equity, diversity and inclusion.””
LOL. But there’s no problem with Biden’s executive orders mandating DEI to the same groups and suppressing speech supportive of equal treatment based on merit.
Ignore it.
DEI was just a get-around to unconstitutional quotas the Supreme Court already struck down.
Free speech is protected by the Constitution. The government paying Universities so they can practice free speech is not.
The one part where I am partially inclined to agree with the Judge is about cancelling contracts. But I am pretty sure the E/O would not apply in that situation as the memo states the temporary pause in funding is subject to applicable law. Contract law would certainly be such an applicable law.
Seriously.
Ignore this moron and forge ahead.
Nonsense. They can support those precepts all they like. They just can’t demand the government support it too. If the government decides to not fund certain scientific research is it violating the free speech rights of those scientists who believe strongly in that research? Or is it making a legit choice of where federal dollars should go?
“Seriously.
Ignore this moron and forge ahead.”
Yep this is the one. DEI itself is discrimination. This is the hill to die on.
You can bet this a-hole didn’t come up with this. They picked this guy and fed him the justification to use
Snicker.
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