By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) – U.S. agencies are defying a court order blocking President Donald Trump’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at businesses and organizations that contract with the federal government, groups suing over the ban said in a court filing on Thursday.
The groups, along with the city of Baltimore, told U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Maryland that federal agencies are continuing to threaten contractors with loss of funding if they do not sign contracts with anti-DEI language, despite the judge’s order last month barring enforcement of the policy while the lawsuit proceeds.
They said contractors’ experiences were corroborated by a report on Wednesday by the magazine Rolling Stone that Trump administration officials are explicitly telling staff that Abelson’s order is “irrelevant” and to continue enforcing the anti-DEI policy.
The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Abelson, who was appointed by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, scheduled a telephone status conference on the matter for 3:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT) on Friday.
The lawsuit was brought by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, the American Association of University Professors, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United and the city of Baltimore. They argue that the anti-DEI policy violates their freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Trump, a Republican, said in his executive order that DEI policies are discriminatory and violate federal civil rights law.
Along with directing federal agencies to eliminate diversity programs, Trump also barred federal contractors, which include many of the largest U.S. companies, from having them. And he told the U.S. Justice Department and other agencies to identify businesses, schools and nonprofits that may be unlawfully discriminating through DEI policies.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Leigh Jones and Christopher Cushing)
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