Combatting the War Against Equality
Post by Ruqaiijah Yearby
Recent state efforts to prohibit DEI practices often exceed the state’s authority and conflict with long-standing legal interpretations of equality that seek to address racial discrimination.
Nationwide, there has been a consistent effort by some states to use abusive state preemption bills to undermine measures adopted to achieve equality, a trend likely to continue into 2026. For example, many states have sought to prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) polices, practices, and programs in schools, even though DEI has long been recognized by federal and state governments as a key component in achieving equality.
In fact, many public and private schools adopted DEI policies, practices, and programs to achieve equality after two Supreme Court cases (Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and Grutter v. Bollinger) held that race could be considered as one of many factors in achieving the compelling interest of a diverse student body. Furthermore, by August 2022, over 300 localities throughout the United States declared that racism was a public health crisis. These declarations formally acknowledged what we’ve known all along – that the historical and ongoing practices of racial discrimination have a tangible and negative impact on health and quality of life. To help end this crisis, many localities adopted DEI polices, practices, and programs.
States like Texas and Florida are leading the attack against equality, and in 2023 began prohibiting higher education’s use of DEI. However, recent actions by President Trump and the Executive Branch have motivated states to consider legislation banning DEI beyond higher education, targeting local public schools, which will limit local efforts to achieve equality.
Trump’s War Against Equality
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14173 (EO 14173), which claimed that institutions of American society, including educational institutions, were violating civil rights laws by using DEI. Building on EO 14173, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued a “Dear Colleague letter”, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and an End DEI portal. According to the Department documents (the Dear Colleague letter, FAQs, and portal), individuals at higher education institutions and K-12 schools were using DEI training, practices, and policies to discriminate. The Department then required every local school district to certify their compliance with the letter by April 13, 2025. By issuing EO 14173 and the Department documents, the Executive Branch tried to illegally create new laws and undermine equality efforts.
Several federal judges have blocked the enforcement of the Department documents. According to Judge Gallager, a Trump appointee, the documents:
Do not provide any factual references or support;
Fail to show that the intent of DEI practices and programs is to discriminate against a racial group, a requirement of civil rights law;
Misstate the holding of the Students for Fair Admissions case by applying it to DEI practices;
Conflict with current civil rights laws, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
Try to extend the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision to all schools – PreK through 12th grade; and
Neglect to define what constitutes a DEI program that violates the law, making it unconstitutionally vague.
Despite these rulings, President Trump and the Executive Branch continue to use the interpretations found in these documents to initiate investigations against public schools, such as Evanston/Skokie School District 65. Additionally, more and more states are proposing bills to prohibit DEI in public schools. However, these laws, like federal efforts, run afoul of current law.
State Anti-Equality Efforts
Comparable to recent efforts to preempt local school authority, state anti-DEI laws seek to limit local communities’ efforts to address the racial discrimination that limits racial and ethnic minority individual’s equal access to resources.
For example, in Ohio, fifty-seven localities acknowledged racism as a public health crisis, with some localities adopting DEI policies and programs to address the crisis. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also declared racism as a public health crisis in August 2022, highlighting that systemic racism was one of the causes of racial inequities and calling for changes across a range of issues, including higher education.
Yet, five years later, the state has barred DEI in higher education and is seeking to prohibit DEI in public schools, which will limit local efforts in Ohio to achieve equality. Specifically, two Ohio proposed state bills (SB No. 113 and HB No. 155) seek to “prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion in public schools”. The bills prohibit DEI training, the continuation of DEI offices and departments, and DEI in job applications.
In Ohio, state law says: “[e]ach city, exempted village, or local board of education shall have the management and control of all of the public schools.” Yet, the two proposed bills seek to limit this authority in violation of the above law by prohibiting legal DEI practices. Furthermore, the bills are vague because they fail to define DEI, unlike many local equality efforts.
For instance, in acknowledging that racism was a public health crisis, the City of Canal Winchester, Ohio adopted a resolution to declare their commitment to DEI. Citing the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the City defined equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial,” and condemned all forms of discrimination, including racial discrimination. By passing the resolution, the City sought to create an environment where all individuals were welcome and included. Ohio’s ban on DEI in public schools would seemingly invalidate this resolution and limit Canal Winchester’s efforts to attain equality.
The Path Forward
State efforts to preempt local school authority, which have a disproportionately harmful impact on racial and ethnic minority individuals, are not new. However, recent state efforts to prohibit DEI practices often exceed the state’s authority and conflict with long-standing legal interpretations of equality that seek to address racial discrimination.
Strategies that may help local governments in the fight for equality include:
Tracking state anti-DEI bills;
Using evidence to demonstrate the benefits of DEI efforts for all residents, especially racial and ethnic minority individuals;
Building broad coalitions that show the benefits of DEI efforts; and
Filing lawsuits to challenge the state’s authority and the vagueness of anti-DEI laws.
Additionally, just like the 57 localities in Ohio that declared racism as a public health crisis, local communities throughout the U.S. need to work together and stand firm in their commitment to fairness, as the federal and state governments wage war against equality.
1. City of Winchester DEI resolution, May 17, 2021, https://herenow.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Canal-Winchester-OH_05.17.2021.pdf (last visited Nov. 20, 2025).
Ruqaiijah Yearby, JD, MPH is the Co-Founder of the Institute for Healing Justice & Equity, and Co-Founder of the Collaborative for Anti-Racism & Equity. She also serves as a part of the 2025 Research Cohort for the Local Solutions Support Center.