In a trio of rulings that can teach Americans a lot about the U.S. Constitution, federal judges in Maryland, New Hampshire, and Washington, DC, temporarily have blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to curb so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in K-12 schools by threatening to withhold federal funding.
These decisions, handed down on April 24, 2025, expose not only the entrenched collectivist mindset of the judiciary but also the deeper, unaddressed issue: the federal government has no constitutional authority to meddle in education funding at all. Worse, the collectivist structure of public education itself fosters a Tragedy of the Commons, where taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for a system that often disregards their values and priorities.
