Federal Judge Blocks New Hampshire’s Anti-Diversity Law
From Forbes.com
U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty has issued a preliminary injunction against New Hampshire’s law meant to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion practices in public schools.
The law took effect this summer, after Republicans tucked it into the state’s budget bill in April, bypassing hearings or public notice. As reported by Annmarie Timmins at NHPR, the surprise legislation raised alarms from disability advocates. The law came on the heels of the Trump administration’s push for anti-DEI policies, starting with a “Dear Colleague” letter on February 14, the press release announcing its “End DEI” portal on February 27, and an April 3rd message strongly suggesting that states and local school districts sign a pledge that they had a “legal obligation” to follow the administration’s interpretation of Title VI and linking that compliance to continue receiving federal funding.
By the end of April, New Hampshire had signed the pledge, but McCafferty had issued an 82 page ruling against the federal directive. The new state law would attempt to wipe out DEI programs by defunding any district found in violation by the state’s chief education official.
After the new law took effect on July 1, it was followed by a lawsuit from civil liberties groups, the New Hampshire chapter of the NEA, several individuals, and four school districts.
Representative Joe Sweeney, co-sponsor of the legislation, explained to Timmins: “The law we passed is simple: it stops taxpayer-funded discrimination. It ensures no student or employee is judged or stereotyped based on race, sex, or religion.” The lawsuit, he argued, was “a desperate attempt by radical activist groups to force their political ideology into our classrooms and state government.”
McCafferty didn’t see it that way, and found that several of the plaintiff’s objections to the law were likely to succeed on the merits.
McCafferty agreed that the law is problematically vague. The law, through its definition of DEI, prohibits “public entities and public schools from identifying a person based on their age, race, gender, or other enumerated characteristic for the purpose of achieving anything related to that identified characteristic.” Anti-DEI advocates and their supporters understand this to apply to only certain designations, but that’s not what the words mean.