The Trump administration is continuing the war on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with a new executive order, this time aimed at federally funded contracts. Last week, President Donald Trump signed “Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors,” which established new requirements for contractors and subcontractors, restricting them from engaging in “racially discriminatory DEI activities.”
“The Order requires that all Federal contracts that are subject to the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act include a clause prohibiting contractors and their subcontractors from engaging in racially discriminatory DEI activities,” reads the Executive Order Fact Sheet.
In the event of a contractor’s noncompliance, the contract “may be canceled, terminated, or suspended in whole or in part, and the contractor or subcontractor may be declared ineligible for further Government contracts.
This is the President’s third Executive Order targeting DEI activities. His previous orders issued in January of 2025, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” both targeted similar programming. While these executive orders made some headway in federal institutions such as universities, ensuing legal battles and efforts to conceal DEI have slowed their progress.
President Trump comments on this concerted effort to conceal DEI programs at the federal level in the Executive Order.
“Despite this progress, some entities continue to engage in DEI activities and often attempt to conceal their efforts to do so,” writes the president.
To combat this, Section 3 of the order details that contractors are obligated to “report any subcontractor’s known or reasonably knowable conduct that may violate this clause to the contracting department or agency and take any appropriate remedial actions….”
Additionally, Trump’s new Executive Order would extend to public universities that are under contract with the Federal Government. As covered by CriticalRace.org, several colleges have continued to push DEI programs under the guise of new, unsuspecting names. Whether through rebranding under the new catchphrase “belonging” or by shifting DEI programs to other offices, universities continue to find inventive ways to circumvent federal orders.
A key aspect to fight against this effort of rebranding is the Order’s official definition of what “racially discriminatory DEI activities” are.
The order defines racially discriminatory DEI activities as “disparate treatment based on race or ethnicity in the recruitment, employment (e.g., hiring, promotions), contracting (e.g., vendor agreements), program participation, or allocation or deployment of an entity’s resources.”
With this definition in place, universities will now find it more difficult to conceal discriminatory programs, assuming those programs fall within their scope.
Although the new Executive Order renews the push against federally funded DEI, the battle is likely to continue in the courts. Notably, President Trump’s first two DEI-related executive orders from 2025 were only recently upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. On February 23, 2026, the court overturned a nationwide injunction issued by a Maryland federal district judge, effectively clearing the way for the original anti-DEI orders to take effect.
Given the precedent of legal challenges, President Trump’s latest anti-DEI executive order is likely to face intense scrutiny from progressive judges who may seek to delay its implementation as long as possible.
“DEI activities are not only unethical and often illegal, but also cause inefficiencies, waste, and abuse within entities that engage in such practice,” reads the new Executive Order.
“It is therefore the policy of the United States to promote economy and efficiency in Federal contracting by preventing racial discrimination.”
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