2025 in review: Anti-DEI lawsuits targeted employers over diversity practices

There’s been an uptick in DEI-related lawsuits against companies since 2023, when the Supreme Court barred universities from considering race in the admissions process. That decision, coupled with a rise in anti-DEI actions from the Trump administration and activists, has led courts to consider the legality of DEI programs, including training and demographic goals.

It seems, however, that the tides may be changing. Some legal experts say that, in recent months, they’ve seen fewer new cases against employers, and some DEI professionals filing suits of their own.

The state of lawsuits targeting DEI. There are at least 75 ongoing cases with plaintiffs who allege workplace discrimination as a result of some aspect of DEI, according to the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Conservative-leaning law firms, such as the American Alliance for Equal Rights and America First Legal, have sued several companies for their DEI programs since the 2023 affirmative action ruling.

Suits targeting DEI programs that support underrepresented groups—such as an accelerator program for Latino workers—led several companies to eliminate their initiatives in 2025. In February, American Alliance for Equal Rights sued American Airlines over the airline’s supplier diversity program, agreeing to no longer consider the race of business owners when awarding contracts, according to the Meltzer Center. The case was settled in May.

The federal and state governments have targeted DEI programs in 2025 as well. In February, Missouri filed a suit against Starbucks, alleging that the company’s commitment to DEI paves the way for discrimination. Starbucks said the state doesn’t have a case because Missouri “lacks a concrete interest in Starbucks’ hiring practices and DEI programs,” according to the Meltzer Center. This case is ongoing.

Meanwhile in Florida, Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a similar suit this month against Starbucks claiming Starbucks turned DEI “into a mandatory hiring and promotion system based on race.”

While the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has threatened employers with investigations if they pursue DEI, it appears the org has only issued one subpoena to Northwestern Mutual (to obtain more information over a DEI program after an employee filed a discrimination charge) since Andrea Lucas took over as acting chair in January.

There are also several ongoing suits with plaintiffs who allege their employers’ mandatory DEI training could create a hostile work environment. While several of these cases are still making their way through the courts, one has emerged as a potential test case.

In September, an appeals court agreed to reexamine a case in which an employee of the New York City Department of Education alleged their employer’s mandatory DEI training created an unfair work environment, K12 Dive reported. While the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit didn’t rule that the training was inherently illegal, it noted, “What matters here is the way the trainings were conducted…When employment trainings discuss any race ‘with a constant drumbeat of essentialist, deterministic, and negative language [about a particular race], they risk liability under federal law.”

“This case will help them on their bully pulpit to say, ‘Hey, look, DEI has gone wild, and look what this court said. Here’s an example of why we need to go after these DEI programs,” Michael Foreman, an employment discrimination law professor at Penn State Dickinson, told Bloomberg Law.

Other cases targeting DEI training have been dismissed, so this case could provide greater clarity going forward.

Looking ahead. Some DEI practitioners are pushing back against DEI rollbacks, filing suits of their own in a potential emerging trend, according to Law.com.

At the same time, there’s been a trend toward fewer anti-DEI lawsuits, in part because so many companies have already ended many programs, according to Dan Lennington, managing vice president and deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. “My target list has gone pretty much to zero now,” he told the Washington Post. “There’s no Amazon Black business accelerator, there’s no huge FedEx supplier diversity programs, no Microsoft or Apple Black founders programs. Those are all gone.”