Executive Order Censoring “Divisive” Diversity & Inclusion Trainings

 Last Thursday, Oct. 29, DOJABA and representatives from the other DOJ-wide affinity groups met with Assistant Attorney General Lee Lofthus and four other JMD officials about DOJ’s implementation of Executive Order 13950, which bars what it considers “offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.”  We expressed our serious concerns about JMD’s interim implementation guidance, which we believe improperly expands the diversity directives beyond training to also cover programs, events and activities.  Here are a few takeaways from that meeting:

• We argued affinity group events should not fall under the ordinary meaning of “training,” but should be characterized as a “program” or an “event”; thus, it’s covered by JMD’s guidance but not the EO.

• JMD believes the EO goes beyond trainings; we countered that that’s an unfaithful interpretation of the EO’s plain text and is also out of step with other agencies’ implementation guidance documents.

• JMD will consider our points before issuing a final guidance once OPM follows up with more instructions.

The affinity groups drafted the attached letter and sent it to AAG Lofthus on November 3.  It outlines our collective concerns, requests clarity about JMD’s interim guidance, and asks JMD to limit the scope of its final guidance to the directives established by the EO and the corresponding OMB and OPM memoranda.

On Oct. 29, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund sued the Trump administration on behalf of the National Urban League and the National Fair Housing Alliance. The complaint alleges that the EO constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination under the First Amendment, and is void for vagueness and violates equal protection under the Fifth Amendment.