ABA suspends law school DEI rule, US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk's email, and judge clears USAID to put over 2000 employees on leave ??
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?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today's top legal news:
?? American Bar Association suspends law school DEI rule enforcement
The American Bar Association will temporarily suspend enforcement of its diversity and inclusion standard for law schools.
The ABA's Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar voted on Feb. 21 to halt enforcement of its current standard until Aug. 31 while it reviews a pending proposed revision to the rule.
The council's standards committee said it would assess the proposed changes in light of recent actions by President Donald Trump's administration, to ensure it can enforce the standard in compliance with the law.
The administration warned of cuts in federal funding for academic institutions and universities if they continue with diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump has also issued executive orders to target DEI in the federal government and private sector.
?? Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk's 'What did you do last week' email
Multiple U.S. agencies have told employees not to respond immediately to a demand by President Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk to list their accomplishments in the past week or be fired, as a chaotic campaign to cull the federal workforce pushes forward.
Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI and State Department sent their staff emails telling them not to respond outside their chains of command - a possible sign of tension between members of the Republican administration and the world's richest person in his campaign to slash the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce.
"The FBI, through the office of the director, is in charge of all our review processes," said FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee, in an email to staff seen by Reuters.
Musk leads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which in the first weeks of Trump's administration has laid off more than 20,000 workers and offered buyouts to another 75,000, across wide swaths of the government from the Defense Department - long a top Republican priority - to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where all staff members have been ordered to halt work.
Federal workers on the evening of Feb. 22 received an email instructing them to detail the work they did during the previous week by 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 24, shortly after Musk posted on his X social media site that failing to respond would be taken as a resignation.
??US judge blocks Trump bid to ban DEI by federal agencies, contractors
A federal judge in Maryland on Feb. 21 temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from implementing bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies and businesses that contract with the federal government.
U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson said?the directives by Trump?and an order urging the Department of Justice to investigate companies with DEI policies likely violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The orders are part of Trump's larger efforts to?eradicate DEI initiatives, opens new tab, which he and other critics say are discriminatory, from the government and the private sector.
Abelson blocked Trump and several federal agencies from implementing the orders nationwide pending the outcome of?a lawsuit?by the city of Baltimore and three groups.
"As Plaintiffs put it, 'efforts to foster inclusion have been widespread and uncontroversially legal for decades,'" wrote Abelson. "Plaintiffs' irreparable harms include widespread chilling of unquestionably protected speech."
It was not immediately clear how Abelson's decision may apply to actions already taken by the Trump administration, including shuttering DEI offices at many agencies and firing staff involved in diversity programs.
????US judge clears way for USAID to put more than 2,000 employees on leave
A federal judge has cleared the way for the Trump administration to put more than 2,000 U.S. Agency for International Development workers on leave, a setback for government employee unions that are suing over what they have called an effort to dismantle the foreign aid agency.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington on Feb. 21 lifted a temporary restraining order he had put in place at the outset of the case and declined to issue a longer-term order keeping the employees in their posts. He wrote that he was satisfied by the administration's assurances in court filings that USAID personnel abroad who were placed on leave would still be protected by U.S. security.
Nichols, who was appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, also wrote that, because the affected employees had not gone through an administrative dispute process, he likely did not have jurisdiction to hear the unions' case or consider their broader arguments that the administration is violating the U.S. Constitution by shutting down an agency created and funded by Congress.
"We are disappointed in today's decision and believe the harms faced by USAID workers are real. We remain confident that the courts will find the administration's efforts to decimate USAID contrary to law," said Skye Perryman, president of the legal nonprofit Democracy Forward, which represents the unions.
?? That's all for today, thank you for reading The Legal File, and have a great day!
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