By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily paused a ruling that blocked the Trump administration from banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies and businesses with government contracts.
The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said 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 U.S. 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.
The decision will remain in place pending the outcome of the Trump administration’s appeal.
The White House, the Justice Department and lawyers for the city of Baltimore and three groups who joined the city in suing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The orders are part of Trump’s larger efforts to eradicate DEI initiatives, which he and other critics say are discriminatory, from the government and the private sector.
U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore had blocked Trump and several federal agencies from implementing the orders nationwide pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs this week had accused the Trump administration of defying the ruling by continuing to condition some federal contracts on recipients agreeing not to implement DEI programs.
Abelson held a hearing on the matter on Friday but did not issue any further ruling.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sam Holmes)
