Trump admin 'manipulated' agency rules to track down and fire anyone 'associated' with DEI in 'unlawful' purge, lawsuit
Source: Law & Crime
Dec 5th, 2025, 2:25 pm
The Trump administration played an illegal game of administrative whack-a-mole in order to fire certain federal workers, a lawsuit alleges. During the first two days of his second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order targeting "diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) initiatives as well as a follow-up executive order framing the break with DEI as in line with commitments to civil rights law.
Each order, and associated implementing directive, seeks to broadly limit federal government funding to states, counties, municipalities, agencies, and contractors — with clampdowns focused on programs and entities deemed to be promoting DEI initiatives. A series of related executive orders also target programs and entities that work toward LGBTQ and transgender advocacy.
Now, in a 58-page lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., several federal workers say they were specifically targeted under the auspices of a war on DEI that, in reality, was something else entirely.
"In fulfilling their promise to purge the federal government of DEI, Defendants went far beyond ridding the government of DEI roles and initiatives," the lawsuit reads. Instead, they targeted individual employees for termination on the basis of (1) their perceived political beliefs or affiliation with former President Biden and the Democratic Party; (2) their actual or perceived race, gender, or gender identity; and (3) their actual or perceived advocacy for protected racial or gender groups (i.e., people of color, women, and/or LGBTQ people)."
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/ensure-the-removal-of-targeted-workers-trump-admin-manipulated-agency-rules-to-track-down-and-fire-anyone-associated-with-dei-in-unlawful-purge-lawsuit-alleges/
Full headline: 'Ensure the removal of targeted workers': Trump admin 'manipulated' agency rules to track down and fire anyone 'associated' with DEI in 'unlawful' purge, lawsuit alleges
Link to SUIT (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26342086-fell-v-trump-complaint/
Link to SUIT (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26342086/fell-v-trump-complaint.pdf