Executive Order Prohibiting “Divisive” Training by Government Contractors Is Enjoined

A federal district court in California has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction that prevents the OFCCP from enforcing President Trump’s Executive Order on “divisive” training by government contractors and subcontractors.

As we discussed in our September 2020 E-Update, President Trump’s E.O. prohibits “divisive concepts” such as race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating in diversity training. This order was quite controversial and was immediately challenged in court. The court in Santa Cruz Lesbian and Gay Cmty. Ctr., et al. v. Trump found that the E.O. “impermissibly chills the exercise of the Plaintiffs’ constitutionally protected speech, based on the content and viewpoint of their speech” in violation of the First Amendment, and also was so vague as to violate the Plaintiffs’ Fifth Amendment right to due process. The court’s order is a preliminary one and may be reversed in later proceedings, but the E.O. itself may be rescinded under the incoming Biden administration. For the time being, however, the E.O. will not be enforced.