A US appeal court has said the Trump administration could temporarily implement a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes at federal agencies and businesses with government contracts, which had been blocked by a judge.
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The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals said on Friday the directives by President Donald Trump, including an order urging the Department of Justice to investigate companies with DEI policies, were likely constitutional, disagreeing with a February ruling by a federal judge in Maryland.
But two of the three judges on the 4th Circuit panel wrote separately they did not agree with the substance of Trump’s orders and that agencies that implement them may risk violating the US Constitution.
“Despite the vitriol now being heaped on DEI, people of good faith who work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion deserve praise, not opprobrium,” Circuit Judge Albert Diaz wrote.
Circuit Judge Allison Rushing, a Trump appointee, responded that her colleagues’ policy views were irrelevant to whether Trump’s directives should stand.
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“A judge’s opinion that DEI programmes ‘deserve praise, not opprobrium’ should play absolutely no part in deciding this case,” Rushing wrote.
The decision, in a lawsuit by the city of Baltimore and three groups, will remain in place pending the outcome of the Trump administration’s appeal, which could take months.