The Department of Justice has launched an initiative targeting federally-funded entities that hold policies supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
In a memo to DOJ offices, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche reminded employees that the False Claims Act is the “Justice Department’s primary weapon against government fraud, waste, and abuse.”
“Accordingly, a university that accepts federal funds could violate the False Claims Act when it encourages antisemitism, refuses to protect Jewish students, allows men to intrude into women’s bathrooms, or requires women to compete against men in athletic competitions,” the memo reads, noting that the Act is also implicated when contractors engage in “racist preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities,” including DEI programs.
Announcing the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, Blanche said the effort will draw upon the False Claims Act to “investigate and, as appropriate, pursue claims against any recipient of federal funds that knowingly violates federal civil rights laws.”
In a statement accompanying the memo, Blanche declared the “days of using federal funds to further discrimination are over.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi noted that entities that take funds “only to allow anti-Semitism and promote divisive DEI policies are putting their access to federal funds at risk. This Department of Justice will not tolerate these violations of civil rights – inaction is not an option.”
In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order calling for the end of DEI programs in the federal government. “Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great, the order says.
