The federal District Court in New Hampshire (Landya McCafferty) has preliminarily enjoined a pair of anti-DEI laws passed by the state legislature.
The first law prohibits political entities, including school districts, from implementing, promoting or otherwise engaging in any DEI-related initiatives, programs, training, or policies or expending state funds for DEI-related activities, including implicit bias training, DEI assessments, critical race theory or race-based hiring, promotion or contracting preferences.
The second law prohibits any school that is “supported by public funds” from engaging in any DEI-related initiatives, programs, training, or policies. It provides that state funding will be “immediately” halted for any school that “knowingly or unknowingly” violates its provisions.
The Court found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the statutes are unconstitutionally void for vagueness and are pre-empted by federal anti-discrimination laws. It did not rule on the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims. The Court noted that the case was the third in a series in which the court had enjoined similar laws or executive actions targeting “divisive concepts” or DEI in schools.
The current suit was brought by the National Education Association of New Hampshire, which represents a majority of public school employees in the state, four school districts, several individual plaintiffs, and a nonprofit. (National Education Association – New Hampshire v. NH Attorney General, D. NH, No. 25-cv-293, 10/2/25.)
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