In response to a growing wave of legal and political efforts aimed at dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the United States, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) has introduced the Equity in Government Act, legislation intended to restore and expand federal DEI policies significantly curtailed under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The bill arrives as numerous state legislatures and the federal judiciary—under an increasingly conservative bench—continue to target race-conscious initiatives, including affirmative action, DEI-based hiring and training policies, and public-sector equity programs.
Critics of the anti-DEI movement have characterized these developments as a coordinated legal strategy to reverse decades of civil rights progress.
“Efforts to defund and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion are resegregation, full stop,” Rep. Pressley said, calling the rollback of DEI initiatives “anti-Blackness on steroids” and warning that such attacks represent a broader erosion of constitutional civil rights.
The Equity in Government Act proposes the reinstatement of Biden-era DEI mandates that channeled billions into programs supporting equitable access in housing, healthcare, entrepreneurship, and education. The bill also seeks to expand these initiatives, embedding equity assessments and inclusive procurement practices within federal agencies and requiring data collection to evaluate progress in eliminating systemic disparities.
Rep. Pressley, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, is positioning the legislation as both a policy measure and a legal bulwark against ongoing efforts to invalidate DEI at the state and federal levels. The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) and has garnered institutional support from civil rights organizations such as the National Urban League and National Action Network.
“In the face of a well-organized legal assault on civil rights protections, we must act with equal urgency,” said Pressley. “This bill is not only about restoring what’s been stripped away—it’s about advancing toward what justice requires.”
Notably, Pressley framed the bill within a broader historical and constitutional context, referring to the current moment as an opportunity for a “Third Reconstruction,” a phrase evoking the transformative reforms of both the post-Civil War era and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Legal experts suggest that while the bill faces an uphill battle in a divided Congress, its introduction could have significant implications for administrative law, equal protection jurisprudence, and future litigation challenging race-conscious government policies.
The proposed legislation comes as courts continue to hear cases testing the limits of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, and constitutional challenges to public funding for DEI-related initiatives.
For now, the Equity in Government Act serves as a legislative countermeasure—and potentially a legal test case—amid a nationwide debate over the future of civil rights law and government accountability.
