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President Donald Trump on Friday celebrated a D.C. District Court ruling that deemed a provision of a law signed during the Biden administration had violated the U.S. Constitution by using race to help determine who received federal money.
“BIG WIN in Court for the American People!” President Trump said on Friday in a social media statement. “The so-called ‘Digital Equity Act,’ a Biden DEI law, was ruled exactly what I said it was last year — A RACIST and UNCONSTITUTIONAL giveaway that never should have become Law.”
The Digital Equity Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, as part of a broader $1 trillion package. The DEA was aimed at supposedly broadening digital access to underserved communities, as reported by RSBN.
Upon taking office, President Trump swiftly moved to dismantle the DEA, declaring it “UNCONSTITUTIONAL” in March 2025.
“No more woke handouts based on race!” he said at the time. “The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving taxpayers billions of dollars!”
The DEA is a federal funding program promoting “digital inclusion” that was supposedly meant to help underserved communities like low-income residents, the elderly, or extremely rural citizens by providing them with access to digital devices or education, for example. However, the Trump administration has argued that grants for the program were allegedly being awarded based on assessments of race or ethnic status.
“The Digital Equity Act straightforwardly categorizes members of certain races as ‘covered’ by the Act and targets grant money to programs that benefit those groups,” the court decision stated. “That is an explicit racial classification, which can only be upheld if it withstands strict scrutiny. Here, it does not: the offending provision is neither justified by a compelling governmental interest nor narrowly tailored to meet a permissible goal. Accordingly, it is unconstitutional.”
In his Friday statement, President Trump slammed the Biden administration for signing the DEA into law. “Sleepy Joe and the Dumocrats used YOUR Tax Dollars to divide Americans, instead of serving ALL Americans,” he noted. “At my direction, Howard Lutnick, my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, fought it, and the Court AGREED. A MASSIVE Victory for Common Sense and our Constitution.”
The U.S. District Court will allow the rest of the grant program to survive, minus “the offending provision” that caused the legal battle, via the court document.