Overview
- In a filing to the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday, the department moved to dismiss its appeal, keeping the August district court decision in effect.
- U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher found the February Dear Colleague letter and the K‑12 certification demand violated the First Amendment and federal procedural requirements.
- The lawsuit was led by the American Federation of Teachers and represented by Democracy Forward, which praised the dismissal as a win for public education.
- Over the past year, many schools and colleges scaled back or rebranded DEI offices, programs and web content in response to federal pressure, a shift experts say will be hard to reverse.
- Parallel actions continue, including NEA and NAACP cases, a 19‑state challenge set for trial in June, ongoing federal investigations and campus agreements such as at the University of Virginia, and state pushback like California’s refusal to sign the now‑void certification.