Key Updates
Related Thought Leadership and Analysis
- DEI Implementation: GSA Announces Class Deviation to the Federal Acquisition Regulation to Implement DEI Related Executive Orders
by: Angela B. Styles, Susan H. Lent, Scott M. Heimberg, Samantha Jennifer Block, Andrea de la Camara - Early Assessment of the Effect of President Trump’s New Executive Orders on FERC Infrastructure Projects
by Emily P. Mallen, Stephen J. Hug, Scott Daniel Johnson, Ben N. Reiter, Sharmila P. Das
Summary
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear (including in relation to “environmental justice”).
The Director of OPM, with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall review and revise, as appropriate, all existing federal employment practices, union contracts and training policies or programs to comply with this order. Federal employment practices, including federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates or requirements.
Legal Challenges
| Date Complaint Filed | February 3, 2025 |
| Venue | United States District Court for the District of Maryland, Baltimore Division |
| Summary |
Plaintiffs sue Defendants (President Trump and various agencies) and argue that Exec. Order No. 14151 is an unconstitutional violation of the Spending Clause, and the Fifth Amendment’s due process guarantee for vagueness. Plaintiffs further argue that Exec. Order No. 14173 unconstitutionally violates Fifth Amendment due process for vagueness; the First Amendment’s free speech clause; and the separation of powers. Plaintiffs seek declaratory judgements that both orders are unlawful and unconstitutional, and preliminary and permanent injunctions against both. |
