The DEI executive orders currently in force are Executive Order 14151 and Executive Order 14173, both signed in January 2025. Together they shut down diversity, equity, and inclusion offices across the federal government, revoked the decades-old affirmative action framework for federal contractors, and created a new certification requirement that ties contractor and grantee DEI programs to False Claims Act liability. A March 2026 follow-up order added further contract clause language for contractors. The orders survived their first constitutional challenge in the Fourth Circuit and remain in effect.1The American Presidency Project. Executive Order 14151 – Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing2The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
What the Two Orders Do Inside the Federal Government
EO 14151, titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” gave federal agencies sixty days to close all DEI and DEIA offices, eliminate chief diversity officer positions, and terminate equity action plans, equity-related grants, and any DEI performance requirements for employees, contractors, or grantees.1The American Presidency Project. Executive Order 14151 – Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
The order also reached into personnel practices. It directed the Office of Personnel Management to review and revise federal employment practices, union contracts, and training programs to remove DEI considerations. On performance reviews, the order states that federal employment practices “shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.”
One boundary worth naming: reasonable accommodation obligations for federal employees with disabilities did not change. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a statute, not an executive order, and continues to require agencies to accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities.3U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Providing Accommodations
What Changed for Federal Contractors
EO 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” revoked Executive Order 11246, the 1965 order that had long required federal contractors to take affirmative action under oversight by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.2The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity4eCFR. 41 CFR Part 60-2 – Affirmative Action Programs The Department of Labor gave contractors until April 21, 2025, to wind down compliance with the old regulatory scheme. After that date, the affirmative action program requirements under 41 CFR Part 60-2 became effectively unenforceable.5U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
OFCCP closed all pending compliance reviews, stopped investigative and enforcement activity under EO 11246, and took no further action on the scheduling list released in November 2024. In mid-2025 the Department of Labor proposed formally rescinding the implementing regulations for EO 11246.6Federal Register. Rescission of Executive Order 11246 Implementing Regulations
The Certification Requirement and False Claims Act Exposure
EO 14173’s most consequential provision reaches every federal contract and grant award. Two clauses must now be included. First, the contractor or grant recipient agrees that its compliance with all applicable federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. ยง 3729. Second, the contractor or recipient certifies that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate applicable federal anti-discrimination laws.7Federal Register. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
The False Claims Act linkage is what gives the certification real weight. A false certification can expose an organization to treble damages and per-claim penalties, historically one of the government’s most powerful fraud enforcement tools. Organizations that ran DEI programs before the order and continued some version of them after are the clearest targets of this risk.
The order also directed agencies to remove references to DEI and DEIA principles from acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures.
The March 2026 Follow-Up Order
In March 2026, a follow-up executive order, “Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors,” reinforced the contractor rules. It added specific contract clause language requiring contractors to refrain from “racially discriminatory DEI activities” and to furnish records for compliance purposes. Noncompliance can result in contract cancellation, termination, or suspension, and the contractor may be declared ineligible for future government work.8The White House. Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors
Reach Into the Private Sector
EO 14173 also directed the Attorney General to identify, within 120 days, the “most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners” for potential civil compliance investigations. The identified targets include publicly traded corporations, large nonprofits and foundations with assets over $500 million, state and local bar and medical associations, and universities with endowments exceeding $1 billion.
These orders do not repeal Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any other federal anti-discrimination law, and state and local anti-discrimination protections remain in place. What has shifted is the enforcement posture: the same civil rights statutes that once supported diversity programs are now being invoked to scrutinize them. Private employers with no federal contracts face no direct obligation under the orders, but many have reviewed their programs in response to the administration’s stated enforcement intent.
Compliance Obligations That Still Apply
The end of EO 11246 did not clear the deck. Two contractor laws remain fully in effect: Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA). Both prohibit employment discrimination by federal contractors and require affirmative action in the hiring of individuals with disabilities and certain protected veterans.5U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs OFCCP has confirmed that it continues to process complaints under both, including complaints that were held during an earlier processing pause. Because the Section 503 regulations historically cross-referenced EO 11246’s enforcement procedures, the Department of Labor proposed modifications in mid-2025 to disentangle them.9Federal Register. Modifications to the Regulations Implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended
Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act all continue to apply independently of any executive order. The rescission of EO 11246 changed what the government affirmatively requires and promotes, not what the underlying law prohibits.
Where the Courts Have Landed
The anti-DEI orders drew an immediate lawsuit from a coalition led by the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, which argued that several provisions violated the First and Fifth Amendments. A federal district court in Baltimore initially issued a preliminary injunction blocking three provisions. The Fourth Circuit stayed the injunction and, on February 6, 2026, vacated it entirely in National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education v. Trump.10Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. NADOHE v. Trump, No. 25-1189
The court found that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their facial challenges. It held that the termination provision survived a due process challenge, the certification provision survived a First Amendment challenge, and the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the enforcement threat provision. The ruling was narrow in one important respect: the court evaluated only whether the orders were unconstitutional on their face, as written, and expressly preserved the ability of affected parties to bring future challenges to specific enforcement actions taken under the orders. As of mid-2026, no such as-applied challenge has produced a binding ruling, and litigation continues in lower courts.
What to Do if You’re Covered
If you work in a federal agency, the DEI infrastructure that existed from 2021 through early 2025 is gone. There are no chief diversity officers, no equity action plans, and no DEIA performance metrics. Performance reviews are supposed to focus on individual merit.
If your organization holds or is seeking a federal contract or grant, the certification is the piece that demands attention. Review any existing DEI programs against Title VII and other federal anti-discrimination statutes before signing anything that ties compliance to False Claims Act materiality. The March 2026 order added contract clause language and recordkeeping obligations on top of the original certification, so contract templates issued since then should be read carefully rather than assumed to match older forms.
If you are a private employer with no federal ties, the orders impose no direct legal duty on you. The exposure, if any, runs through Title VII and parallel civil rights laws, which have not changed in text but are now being enforced from a different direction.