A coalition of higher education associations and minority contractor groups filed suit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, challenging a March executive order that requires federal contractors to certify they will not engage in what the administration calls “racially discriminatory DEI activities” — or face losing their federal contracts and potential civil or criminal liability.
The plaintiffs include the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), United Academics of Maryland-University of Maryland College Park, and two chapters of the National Association of Minority Contractors. The executive order in question, signed March 26, gives agencies until April 25 to insert the new compliance language into all federal contracts.
At the heart of the lawsuit is a dispute over how broadly the order defines its key terms. Plaintiffs argue the order’s definition of “racially discriminatory DEI activities” sweeps up constitutionally protected speech and lawful conduct — not just programs that could run afoul of anti-discrimination law. The order, they contend, effectively treats any mention of race or ethnicity as presumptively discriminatory, reaching activities like targeted recruitment open to all applicants, diversity training designed to prevent discrimination, and academic research on racial health disparities.
“The Administration views discussion of race and ethnicity as unlawful, and the very concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion as discriminatory. But that is flat wrong,” the plaintiffs’ brief states. “The Contractors Order sanctions legal, and laudable, expression on race or ethnicity, and in doing so, violates the free speech, free association, and due process rights of Plaintiffs and their members.”
The complaint paints a picture of institutions already chilling their own speech before the order even takes effect. University of Maryland faculty describe self-censoring classroom discussions on race and health outcomes; medical center employees have been told to scale back outreach to historically Black colleges; graduate students are reportedly questioning whether studying racial health disparities will derail their academic careers. Minority contractor associations say sponsors — themselves federal contractors — are already pulling back from partnerships out of fear the association alone could trigger the order’s penalties.
AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued a forceful statement alongside the filing: “This executive order is a direct attack on academic freedom and the First Amendment—an attempt to coerce silence by threatening faculty, students, and federal partners who confront the realities of race and discrimination. In a democracy, higher education must be free to pursue truth, foster debate, and expand opportunity for all. Instead, this administration is using the power of federal contracts to impose ideological conformity. The AAUP has defeated these attacks before, and we are proud to stand with this coalition to do so again.”
The White House defended the order. “President Trump promised the American people to eliminate the scourge of DEI from American society and he is delivering on that promise every single day by ensuring that every American, regardless of race, is treated equally,” said spokesperson Abigail Jackson.
This is not the coalition’s first legal challenge to the administration’s DEI rollback. NADOHE previously challenged an earlier 2025 anti-DEI executive order; a Maryland district court initially issued a preliminary injunction, but the Fourth Circuit later vacated it, finding plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits. Plaintiffs argue this new order is meaningfully different — and more sweeping — than its predecessor, and that the Fourth Circuit’s earlier ruling actually invited precisely this kind of challenge when it noted that plaintiffs could sue if the government sought to punish lawful expression.
