ACLU Announces Plans to Preserve DEI, Anti-Discrimination Policies if Trump Is Reelected – JURIST

The ACLU on Wednesday released its strategy for preserving racial equality and civil rights in the United States if Donald Trump is elected to another presidential term in November.

The American rights group warned that after Trump left office, two-thirds of Americans believed his leadership had increased racial tensions in the country, explaining:

The backdrop to this widespread sentiment was the Trump administration’s sustained attack on political, civic, and legal efforts to promote racial justice; Trump’s consistent use of inflammatory racist rhetoric; and his transparent pursuit of a white supremacist agenda rooted in racial grievance.

In 2020, as President Trump campaigned against incumbent President Joe Biden for reelection, the high-profile killings of several unarmed Black men and women—whether by police or would-be vigilantes—sparked a national reckoning with systemic racism. These events shone a light on deep-seated inequalities and injustices, galvanizing a broad protest movement for racial justice and reform.

Against this backdrop, many universities, corporations, and government agencies across the country have announced new or strengthened diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) frameworks. Proponents of these initiatives hail their efforts to repair some of the damage caused by systemic racism in professional and student communities by increasing representation of historically underrepresented groups. Critics say they discriminate against historically overrepresented groups, such as white men.

As has become common in an increasingly divided country, opinions on DEI frameworks are split along partisan lines. A 2023 Pew poll found that 78% of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters thought the increased emphasis on DEI in the workplace was a positive development; for Republican and Republican-leaning voters, that figure was 30%. In 2020, Trump banned DEI trainings at federal agencies and NGOs that receive federal funds. Three months later, the incoming Biden administration reversed that ban.

Fearing that a Trump victory could lead to a regression on racial justice, the ACLU has laid out a road map of plans to fight for DEI and anti-discrimination protections in the courts and through other advocacy efforts.

Specifically, the organization committed to: challenging efforts to stifle DEI education and anti-discrimination policy; intensifying efforts to defend educational access for students of color; challenging efforts to roll back anti-discrimination protections; and strengthening DEI policy interventions at the state and local levels.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) remains a contentious topic as the U.S. election approaches. Earlier this week, a conservative organization filed a lawsuit against Northwestern University’s law school, alleging that its anti-discrimination efforts were inherently discriminatory by granting preference based on gender and race. The organization—Faculty, Alumni, & Students Opposed to Racial Preferences (FASORP)—summed up the critical view in its complaint:

Faculty recruitment in American universities is a cesspool of corruption and lawlessness. For decades, left-wing professors and administrators have flouted federal anti-discrimination laws and openly discriminated on the basis of race and gender in faculty appointments. They do this by hiring women and racial minorities with poor records and without distinction at the expense of white men who have better qualifications, greater scholarship, and greater teaching abilities.