Feb. 26, 2025
ALERT: Legal Developments (OCR Letter, Anti-DEI Terminations, DOGE Data Access, Sensitive Areas)
This EducationCounsel Alert includes updates about the following significant legal developments in response to various Trump Administration actions relevant to education:
- CHALLENGING OCR’S “DEAR COLLEAGUE” LETTER: On February 25, 2025, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a coalition of educators and sociologists filed suit in Maryland federal court to challenge the February 14, 2025, Office of Civil Rights “Dear Colleague” letter threatening civil rights enforcement against education systems and schools for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- HALTING ANTI-“DEI” EXECUTIVE ORDERS: In two federal courts, judges restrained parts of the Trump Administration’s efforts to terminate federal education grants and contracts.
- On February 21, 2025, a federal court in Maryland issued a nationwide preliminary injunction halting implementation of several aspects of the Administration’s anti-“DEI” Executive Orders (EOs).
- On February 13, 2025, a federal judge in Washington, DC, issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing USAID from taking a blanket approach to terminating its foreign assistance grants or contracts.
- SHIELDING USED DATA FROM “DOGE”: On February 24, 2025, a federal court in Maryland issued a TRO preventing the U.S. Department of Education (USED) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from sharing with “DOGE” the plaintiffs’ personal information, including the 1.8 million AFT members and federal student aid recipients.
- RESTRICTING IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT IN “SENSITIVE” SPACES: On February 24, 2025, a federal court in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security from taking immigration enforcement actions within certain places of worship.
We primarily provide brief overviews of these developments, including some key takeaways. Given the second topic’s relevance to recipients of federal education grants and contracts, we also provide some suggested actions to consider at the bottom of that update. Please note that these items are developing rapidly, and nothing in this Alert constitutes specific legal advice.
You can always find summaries and brief analyses of these and many other developments in our ongoing Executive Actions Chart. Depending on the topic, we are also producing longer pieces such as this deep dive into the OCR “Dear Colleague” letter and this collection of federal laws prohibiting the federal government from interfering with state and local curricular decisions.
Click here to access the Alert and click here to download a PDF version.