IT BEGINS: “Under-Reported Trump Order Has Sweeping Implications For DEI At Universities.
It gets worse for the woke.
Trump’s new order includes this:
A term requiring the contractual counterparty or grant recipient to agree that its compliance in all respects with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions for purposes of section 3729(b)(4) of title 31, United States Code.
Want to guess what that referenced Code section is?
It’s the False Claims Act – the whistleblower law that allows private citizens to file what are called qui tam actions. That provision in Trump’s new order is specifically intended to make it easier to win whistleblower actions under the False Claims Act. In other words, if a university or other party falsely signs the certification that they have no DEI policies, private parties like their employees can blow the whistle, perhaps getting a cash award. Treble damages are among the possible consequences for False Claims Act violations.
Many major law firms have posted warnings for their clients about the new Trump order and the potential for whistleblower complaints, such as here.
However, the regular press and general public have yet to catch up on how drastically the law has turned against DEI.