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Equal Protection › Constitutional Challenges › Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I)

The Equal Protection Clause is a section of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution that provides that "no state shall...deny to any citizen within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the... more +
The Equal Protection Clause is a section of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution that provides that "no state shall...deny to any citizen within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Essentially, the Equal Protection Clause provides that the government must treat an individual the same way that it treats other individuals in the same circumstances. The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause applies only to state governments, but the requirements of the clause apply to the federal government through the Due Process Clause of the 5th Amendment. less -
Troutman Pepper Locke

Navigating DEI in a Shifting Legal Landscape

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Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs face more scrutiny than ever in light of President Trump’s recent executive orders regarding DEI policies and programs across the public and private sectors, recent...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Fourth Circuit Stays Preliminary Injunction of Executive Orders Related to DEI Programs

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On March 14, 2025, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a stay on the US District Court for the District of Maryland’s nationwide preliminary injunction of US President Donald Trump’s executive orders (EOs)...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

New Administration Outlook: NADOHE Injunction on DEI Crackdown Is Stayed – Key Takeaways for Federal Grantees and Contractors

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In an important development in the Trump Administration's campaign to extinguish DEI practices from the private sector, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has stayed the district court's preliminary injunction in...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

U.S. Department of Education’s ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter Prohibiting DEI and FAQs Document Challenged in Federal Court

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

On March 5, 2025, the National Education Association (NEA) and its New Hampshire affiliate (NEA-NH) sued the U.S. Department of Education, challenging a recently issued “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) that informed schools that...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Federal Court Refuses to Lift Preliminary Injunction Blocking DEI Executive Orders, While EEOC, USDOE, and State AGs Address DEI...

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Last week brought further developments related to the Trump administration’s efforts to curtail what it views as illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives....more

Pullman & Comley - School Law

OCR, DEI and Connecticut Schools – Sorting Through a Legal Minefield

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If nothing else, the early days of the Trump administration 2.0 have been a whirlwind of legal activity.  Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have of course been at the forefront and on February 14, 2025 the federal...more

DCI Consulting

Second Challenge to Anti-DEIA Executive Orders

DCI Consulting on

The National Urban League, National Fair Housing Alliance, and AIDS Foundation of Chicago have come together to challenge a series of Executive Orders (EO) issued by President Trump including EO 14151, “Ending Radical and...more

Bond Schoeneck & King PLLC

Federal District Court Issues Partial Injunction of DEI Executive Orders

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On Feb. 21, 2025, the federal district court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction partially enjoining two of President Trump’s executive orders: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and...more

Proskauer - Government Contractor Compliance...

Federal Court Issues Partial Preliminary Injunction Halting Enforcement of DEI-Related Executive Orders

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On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of several provisions of President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders on Ending Radical and...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Federal Court Issues Preliminary Injunction against Anti-DEI Executive Orders

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Despite court ruling, educational institutions face continuing enforcement uncertainty pursuant to the February 14 “Dear Colleague Letter” issued by the Department of Education - On February 21, 2025, a federal court in...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

Key Court Ruling on DEIA Programs - What You Should Know

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On February 21, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland enjoined the Trump administration from implementing two recently issued executive orders targeting diversity, equity, inclusion, and...more

Polsinelli

DEI Executive Orders and Related Litigation

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Executive Summary - On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed 26 executive orders (EO), a record number of EOs signed by a President on Inauguration Day. In his first two weeks as President, a handful of these...more

Berkshire

Trump Administration Sued A Second Time Over DEI-Related Executive Orders

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The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal has filed a federal lawsuit in the District of Columbia alleging that several of President Trump’s executive orders regarding “DEI” violate the Free Speech and Equal Protection...more

Foley Hoag LLP - White Collar Law &...

Developments in the DEI Landscape Heading into Trump's Second Month

Foley Hoag LLP - White Collar Law &... on

President Trump’s Executive Orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”), discussed in previous client alerts with regard to higher education institutions and business more broadly, have prompted responses from...more

Clark Hill PLC

Using the First Amendment to Uphold DEI Initiatives

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In Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll., 600 U.S. 181 (2023), the Supreme Court all but ended affirmative action and held, inter alia, that race-conscious admissions policies in higher...more

Venable LLP

Illinois Law Requiring Certain Not-For-Profits to Disclose Demographic Data Challenged in Federal Court

Venable LLP on

Illinois' General Not-For-Profit Corporation Act (Act) was amended to begin requiring certain Illinois not-for-profits to annually report on the demographics of their governing bodies as of January 1, 2025....more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DEI Under Scrutiny, Part VI: Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Over Race-Neutral Measures Allegedly Intended to Increase Racial...

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

The Supreme Court of the United States declined to review a case alleging that facially race-neutral admissions criteria at a selective Virginia public high school were unlawfully intended to strike a racial balance, leaving...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

State AGs Write Amicus Brief Arguing Nasdaq Diversity Rule Is Unconstitutional

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Republican attorneys general (AGs) from 19 states, led by Utah AG Sean D. Reyes, filed an amicus brief urging the Fifth Circuit to rehear a case after a panel of judges declined to entertain a lawsuit challenging diversity...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Assembly Bill 979, California’s Board Diversity Statute, Ruled Unconstitutional

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On May 15, 2023, the Eastern District of California ruled that California Assembly Bill No. 979 (“AB 979”) violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. As enacted,...more

CDF Labor Law LLP

Los Angeles County Trial Court Strikes Down Another California Board Diversity Law

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Last month, on May 13, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis ruled that SB 826, which requires publicly held California corporations with a principal executive office in California to follow gender...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

California Courts Strike Down Laws Requiring More Women and Diversity on Boards

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on

The California courts have cast doubt on the legality of laws mandating the number of women and individuals from “underrepresented communities” on the boards of directors of publicly traded corporations based in California....more

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP

UPDATE: California Court Says Second State Board Diversity Law Is Unconstitutional

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California courts have now struck down the second of the state’s two board diversity laws as unconstitutional.  The recent decision affects California's gender diversity requirement for certain boards of directors.  In April,...more

Mayer Brown Free Writings + Perspectives

California Board Diversity Laws Struck Down by Court

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In a little over a month’s time, the Superior Court of California (the “Superior Court”) struck down both AB 979 and SB 826, California’s two board diversity statutes. SB 826 required that a public company whose principal...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Court Finds California Board Gender Diversity Statute Unconstitutional

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On May 13, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, issued a verdict following a bench trial that effectively struck down SB 826, a California statute requiring the boards of public corporations based in the...more

Littler

Corporate Board Diversity: Next Steps for Employers After Court Strikes Down California Board Diversity Law

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On April 1, 2022, a Los Angeles County Superior Court ruled that California Assembly Bill 979—a bill designed to increase diversity and improve the persistently low number of underrepresented groups on corporate...more

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