{"id":203,"date":"2026-05-23T16:36:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=203"},"modified":"2026-05-23T16:36:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T16:36:51","slug":"parents-sue-trump-administration-for-allegedly-sabotaging-education-departments-civil-rights-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=203","title":{"rendered":"Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saying the Trump administration is sabotaging civil rights enforcement by the Department of Education, a federal lawsuit filed Friday morning seeks to stop the president and Secretary Linda McMahon from carrying out the mass firing of civil rights investigators and lawyers.<\/p>\n

Read more A University, a Rural Town and Their Fight to Survive Trump\u2019s War on Higher Education<\/a><\/p>\n

Two parents and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a national disability rights group, jointly filed the lawsuit. It alleges that decimating the department\u2019s Office for Civil Rights will leave the agency unable to handle the public\u2019s complaints of discrimination at school. That, they said, would violate the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

The complaint comes three days after the Education Department notified about 1,300 employees \u2014 including the entire staff in seven of the 12 regional civil rights offices \u2014 that they are being fired, and the day after a group of 21 Democratic attorneys general sued McMahon and the president. That lawsuit alleges the Trump administration does not have the authority to circumvent Congress to effectively shutter the department.<\/p>\n

The complaint filed on Friday argues that the \u201cOCR has abdicated its responsibility to enforce civil rights protections\u201d and that the administration has made a \u201cdecision to sabotage\u201d the Education Department\u2019s civil rights functions. That, the lawsuit alleges, overrides Congress\u2019 authority. It names the Education Department, McMahon and the acting head of OCR, Craig Trainor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough a series of press releases, policy statements, and executive orders, the administration has made clear its contempt for the civil rights of marginalized students,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

The parents\u2019 lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It asks the court to declare the \u201cdecimation\u201d of the OCR unlawful and seeks an injunction to compel the office to \u201cprocess OCR complaints promptly and equitably.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

A Department of Education spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the department has said it would still meet its legal obligations.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit brought by the attorneys general was filed in federal court in Massachusetts. It alleges the firings are \u201cso severe and extreme that it incapacitates components of the Department responsible for performing functions mandated by statute.\u201d It cites the closing of the seven regional OCR outposts as an example.<\/p>\n

Each year, the OCR investigates thousands of allegations of discrimination in schools based on disability, race and gender and is one of the federal government\u2019s largest civil rights units. At last count there were about 550 OCR employees; at least 243 union-represented employees were laid off Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The administration plans to close OCR locations in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Offices will remain in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit brought by the parents and advocacy group reveals concerns by students and families who have pending complaints that, under President Donald Trump, are not being investigated. There also are concerns that new complaints won\u2019t get investigated if they don\u2019t fall under one of the president\u2019s priorities: curbing antisemitism, ending participation of transgender athletes in women\u2019s sports and combating alleged discrimination against white students.<\/p>\n

Read more A Texas School Board Cut State-Approved Textbook Chapters About Diversity. A Board Member Says Material Violated the Law<\/a><\/p>\n

After Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the administration implemented a monthlong freeze on the agency\u2019s civil rights work. Although OCR investigators were prohibited from working on their assigned discrimination cases, the Trump administration launched a new \u201cEnd DEI Portal\u201d meant only to collect complaints about diversity, equity and inclusion in schools. It has said it is trying to shrink the size of government, including the Education Department, which Trump has called a \u201cbig con job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s actions so far have led many to wonder \u201cif there is a real and meaningful complaint investigation process existing at the moment,\u201d said Johnathan Smith, an attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, which represents the plaintiffs. Smith is a former deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Civil Rights Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are putting the thumb on the scale of who the winners and losers are before they do the investigation, and that is deeply problematic from a law enforcement perspective,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit is perhaps the most substantive legal effort to require the Education Department to enforce civil rights since 1970, when the NAACP sued the agency for allowing segregation to continue. That lawsuit resulted in repeated overhauling of the OCR and 20 years of judicial oversight, with the goal of ensuring that the division fairly investigated and enforced discrimination claims.<\/p>\n

Students and families turn to the OCR after they feel their concerns have not been addressed by their schools or colleges. Both individuals named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are parents of students whose civil rights complaints were being investigated \u2014 until Trump took office.<\/p>\n

One of the plaintiffs, Alabama parent Nikki S. Carter, has three students and is an advocate for students with disabilities in her community. Carter is Black. According to the lawsuit, Carter filed a complaint with OCR in 2022 alleging discrimination on the basis of race after her children\u2019s school district, the Demopolis City Schools, twice banned Carter from school district property.<\/p>\n

When reached by ProPublica, the district superintendent said he\u2019s not aware of the lawsuit or the civil rights complaint and could not comment; he is new to the district.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The district has said it barred Carter after a confrontation with a white staff member. But Carter has said that a white parent who had a similar confrontation wasn\u2019t banned, leading her to believe that the district punished her because of her advocacy. She said it prevented her from attending parent-teacher conferences and other school events.<\/p>\n

The other parent, identified by the initials A.W., filed a complaint with OCR alleging their child\u2019s school failed to respond properly to sexual assault and harassment by a classmate.<\/p>\n

Investigations of both families\u2019 discrimination complaints have stopped under the new OCR leadership, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Read more In An Era of Big Money, the University of Illinois Shrugs Off Rules on Athletes\u2019 NIL Deals<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lawsuit claims that decimating the agency\u2019s Office for Civil Rights will leave it unable to address issues of discrimination at school \u2014 violating the equal protection clause of the Fifth Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[13,10],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-education","tag-trump-administration"],"yoast_head":"\nParents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division - Moving Services America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movingservicesamerica.com\/?p=203\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parents Sue Trump Administration for Allegedly Sabotaging Education Department\u2019s Civil Rights Division - 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