‘Slipping into the clutches of an authoritarian’: Trump’s potential defiance of Supreme Court could lead to a full-blown constitutional crisis

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office at the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Trump administration is attempting to “radically upend” and “re-write” civil rights law as it applies to the realm of public education, a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Maryland federal court alleges.

On Valentine’s Day, the civil rights division within the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter to educational institutions that receive federal funding. The government warns institutions “they must cease using race preferences and stereotypes as a factor in their admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, sanctions, discipline, and beyond” or “face investigation and loss of federal funding.”

The plaintiffs, in their 37-page lawsuit, say the DOE’s guidance “misrepresents the state of the law” under the guise of reiterating “existing legal requirements.” And this effort, the lawsuit claims, is in violation of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and a relevant federal statute governing the actions of administrative agencies.

“The Department of Education is attempting to establish a new legal regime when it has neither the lawmaking power of Congress nor the interpretative power of the courts,” the filing reads. “The Letter fails to provide definitions and objective standards for assessing discrimination in violation of Title VI, or to assess what conduct is lawful. Thus, its references to discrimination and nondiscrimination are too vague to give clear notice of what conduct is supposedly prohibited.”

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