The federal District Court in the District of Columbia (Paul L. Friedman) has granted a preliminary injunction against the U.S. Department of Education to stop the termination of a grant to the Southern Education Foundation. SEF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in 1867 to help educate formerly enslaved persons after the Civil War and advocating against the then-lawful segregation in public education. It has worked to train teachers, provide educational materials, and build schools for formerly enslaved persons and poor whites in the Southern states.
It has worked to provide technical assistance in the desegregation of public schools and more recently to help all students excel academically “regardless of race, sex, national origin, linguistic differences, cultural and social characteristics, economic circumstances and disability.”
The reason for the termination, the Court said, was the Department’s effort to eliminate “illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and practices.” “In view of the history of race in America and the mission of SEF since the Civil War, the audacity of terminating its grants based on ‘DEI’ concerns is truly breathtaking” the Court wrote.
The Court rejected the Administration’s usual claim that the Tucker Act required contractual disputes to be handled by the Court of Federal Claims and said that the “essence” of SEF’s claims was Constitutional and not merely contractual.
It also found that SEF was likely to prevail on the merits of all if its claims under the Administrative Procedure Act (arbitrary and capricious action), the Fifth Amendment, Civil Rights Act, ultra vires rules, and the First Amendment. (Southern Education Foundation v. U.S. Department of Education, D. DC, No. 25-1079, 5/21/25.)
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