The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) has launched an ambitious legal and policy initiative to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across federal agencies. The effort, totaling $124 billion in spending, aligns with President Donald J. Trump’s stated goals of eliminating race-based initiatives that WILL argues are unconstitutional, waste taxpayer money, and distort the free market picking winners and losers on race, gender and sexual orientation.
WILL’s strategy includes filing new complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Education against Johns Hopkins University. These actions build on WILL’s pending lawsuits, such as one targeting the U.S. Department of Transportation’s $37 billion affirmative action program and another challenging the Department of Education’s DEI initiatives for graduate students.
A Roadmap to Equality
At the heart of this initiative is WILL’s “Roadmap to Equality,” a comprehensive guide to dismantling what the organization describes as President Biden’s “whole-of-government Equity Agenda.” The roadmap identifies 79 federal programs and policies that WILL claims perpetuate race discrimination and waste billions in taxpayer funds. It offers the incoming Trump administration a blueprint to terminate, investigate, or settle these programs efficiently.
Highlighted in the roadmap are the top 10 federal DEI programs by annual cost, which include:
- $113 billion for the Office of Management and Budget’s 15% federal contracting set-aside for minority businesses.
- $7 billion for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program.
- $2 billion for the U.S. Treasury’s Homeowner Assistance Fund.
Other targeted programs include initiatives by the Small Business Administration, Commerce Department, and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Together, these efforts represent what WILL sees as a historic opportunity to reduce government spending and restore constitutional equality.
The Legal Strategy
WILL’s history of successful legal challenges to federal DEI programs gives them confidence in this initiative. By focusing on both regulatory and legislative avenues, WILL aims to not only end these programs but also create lasting legal precedents against race-based government actions.
This aggressive push comes at a pivotal moment, as the Trump administration prepares to take office with promises to reduce the size of government, eliminate DEI programs, and create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This new department will lead the charge, working with the Office of Management and Budget to cut these programs and address other instances of wasteful spending.
