New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin is already anticipating litigation against the Trump administration over its campaign to end diversity, equity and inclusion in schools. He’s just imploring parents and educators to head off the legal clash before it affects millions of families in his state.
“I don’t want to get to the point where schools are actually getting the letter saying losing funding, and we have to litigate it, because this is not something we should have to debate in this country,” Platkin told NOTUS days before a March 1 deadline imposed by the federal Department of Education for schools to end programs that run afoul of the administration’s ban on DEI. “You have the Department of Defense canceling Black History Month but the White House celebrating it. So was the White House violating the policy? … To me the answer is yes.”
The Trump administration has ordered schools that receive federal funds to end programs aimed at providing assistance to students based on race — or risk losing grants — pivoting off the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision that ended most affirmative action in college admissions.