Chapter 54: Answer to ACLU
216 By March 2024, thirty-one U.S. state legislators passed or introduced . . . Char Adams and Nigel Chiwaya, “Map: See which states have introduced or passed anti-DEI bills,” NBC News, March 2, 2024, www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/anti-dei-bills-states-republican-lawmakers-map-rcna140756.
216 Five of these anti-DEI laws . . . on July 1, 2024 Johanna Alonso, “DEI Ban Prompts Utah Colleges to Close Cultural Centers, Too,” Inside Higher Ed, July 1, 2024, www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/2024/07/01/onset-anti-dei-law-utah-colleges-close-cultural-centers; and Maggie Hicks, “New Anti-DEI Legislation Goes Into Effect in 4 States,” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 1, 2024, www.chronicle.com/article/new-anti-dei-legislation-goes-into-effect-in-4-states.
216 As of August 2024 . . . filed 114 anti-DEI lawsuits Ray Carter, “DEI trainings spark workplace lawsuits,” Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, August 12, 2014, ocpathink.org/post/independent-journalism/dei-trainings-spark-workplace-lawsuits.
216 founded in 2021 by Stephen Miller Amanda Friedman, “How a Top Trump Adviser Might Influence the President-Elect’s Views on Higher Ed,” Chronicle of Higher Education, November 18, 2024, www.chronicle.com/article/how-a-top-trump-adviser-might-influence-the-president-elects-views-on-higher-ed.
216 shaped Trump’s policies on . . . “Stephen Miller,” Extremist Files, Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed March 5, 2025, www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/stephen-miller.
216 named Miller his deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser Franco Ordoñez, “Stephen Miller will be Trump's homeland security advisor in new White House role,” NPR, updated November 13, 2024, www.npr.org/2024/11/11/g-s1-33741/trump-stephen-miller-deputy-chief-of-staff-immigration-policy-deportations.
216 established the Duke chapter of a student group affiliated . . . Jean Guerrero, “The Man Who Made Stephen Miller,” Politico Magazine, August 1, 2020, www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/01/stephen-miller-david-horowitz-mentor-389933; and Julia Ioffe, “The Believer: How Stephen Miller went from obscure Capitol Hill staffer to Donald Trump’s warm-up act—and resident ideologue,” Politico Magazine, June 27, 2016, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/stephen-miller-donald-trump-2016-policy-adviser-jeff-sessions-213992.
216 finance Geert Wilders’s party Cynthia Kroet, “Geert Wilders’ far-right party suffers donation downturn,” Politico, March 8, 2017, www.politico.eu/article/geert-wilders-far-right-party-suffers-donation-downturn.
216–217 Miller . . . drafted his remarks Adrian Carrasquillo, “Trump's Poland Speech Shows That Stephen Miller Never Left,” Buzzfeed News, July 6, 2017, www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adriancarrasquillo/trumps-poland-speech-shows-that-stephen-miller-never-left.
217 “The fundamental question of our time is . . .” Donald J. Trump, “Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland,” The White House, July 6, 2017, trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-people-poland. For an analysis of this speech, see Glenn Thrush and Julie Hirschfeld Davis, “Trump, in Poland, Asks if West Has the ‘Will to Survive,’” New York Times, July 6, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/world/europe/donald-trump-poland-speech.html.
217 “Do we have the confidence in our values . . .” “Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-people-poland.
217 appeared. . .with President Andrzej Duda, an ally of . . . Thrush and Davis, “Trump, in Poland, Asks if West Has the ‘Will to Survive,’” www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/world/europe/donald-trump-poland-speech.html.
217 spoke next to the monument for the Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupiers in 1944 Thrush and Davis, “Trump, in Poland, Asks if West Has the ‘Will to Survive,’” www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/world/europe/donald-trump-poland-speech.html.
217 the single largest rebellion against German occupiers during World War II “Warsaw Uprising,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, updated July 31, 2019, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-warsaw-polish-uprising.
217 crushed the rebellion led by the Polish Home Army “Warsaw Uprising,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-warsaw-polish-uprising.
217 razed Warsaw into rubble Jennifer Popowycz, “Warsaw Burning: The German Response to the Warsaw Uprising,” National WWII Museum (New Orleans), December 22, 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/german-response-warsaw-uprising.
217 massacred tens of thousands . . . including 40,000 in the Wola district “Warsaw Uprising.” Hitler and Heinrich Himmler “agreed the Warsaw Uprising needed to be brutally suppressed and issued the Order for Warsaw on August 1, 1944. It explicitly stated that the entire city needed ‘to be levelled to the ground in order to set a terrifying example to the rest of Europe.’ A subsequent directive included the fateful order that ‘every citizen is to be killed including men, women, and children.’” Popowycz, “Warsaw Burning,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/german-response-warsaw-uprising.
217 hauled civilians . . . to a transit camp . . . into forced labor camps and concentration camps “Warsaw Uprising,” encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-warsaw-polish-uprising; and Popowycz, “Warsaw Burning,” www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/german-response-warsaw-uprising.
217 “Those heroes remind us that the West . . .” “Remarks by President Trump to the People of Poland,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-people-poland.
217 “The ominous overtone was hard to miss . . .” Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (New York: Doubleday, 2020), 154. To find this book at a library near you, visit search.worldcat.org/title/1150853644.
217 “long-awaited answer to the ACLU” Stephen Miller quoted in Robert Draper, “America First Legal, a Trump-Aligned Group, Is Spoiling for a Fight,” New York Times, March 21, 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/stephen-miller-america-first-legal.html.
217 “racism against white people” and “anti-white bigotry” “America First Legal ad,” available via Politico, October 30, 2022, politico-audio-feed.simplecast.com/episodes/america-first-legal-ad, 0:00–0:02, 0:22–0:24.
217 “When did racism against white people become OK?” “America First Legal ad,” politico-audio-feed.simplecast.com/episodes/america-first-legal-ad, 0:00–0:03.
217–218 “Liberal politicians block access . . .” “America First Legal ad,” politico-audio-feed.simplecast.com/episodes/america-first-legal-ad, 0:10–0:20.
218 “more than a hundred lawsuits, E.E.O.C. . . .” Draper, “America First Legal, a Trump-Aligned Group, Is Spoiling for a Fight,” www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/stephen-miller-america-first-legal.html.
218 sued or provided legal pressure . . . from going to deprived peoples of color Draper, “America First Legal, a Trump-Aligned Group, Is Spoiling for a Fight,” www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/stephen-miller-america-first-legal.html.
218 sued New York University . . . who claimed . . . likely would not be admitted Draper, “America First Legal, a Trump-Aligned Group, Is Spoiling for a Fight,” www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/stephen-miller-america-first-legal.html.
218 to Jewish American parents Lulu Garcia-Navarro, “He Worked for Years to Overturn Affirmative Action and Finally Won: He’s Not Done,” New York Times, July 8, 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/us/edward-blum-affirmative-action-race.html.
218 “. . . both greatly believed in [the civil rights] movement” Edward Blum quoted in Nathan-Kazis, “Meet The Jewish Texan Who’s Fighting Affirmative Action,” Forward, August 8, 2017, forward.com/news/379375/meet-the-jewish-texan-whos-fighting-affirmative-action.
218 “And that rubbed off on me and my brother” Blum quoted in Nathan-Kazis, “Meet The Jewish Texan Who’s Fighting Affirmative Action,” forward.com/news/379375/meet-the-jewish-texan-whos-fighting-affirmative-action.
218 “out individuals or jurisdictions, corporations who have been . . .” Edward Blum quoted in Garcia-Navarro, “He Worked for Years to Overturn Affirmative Action and Finally Won: He’s Not Done,” www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/us/edward-blum-affirmative-action-race.html.
218 “an individual’s race and ethnicity should not . . .” Blum quoted in Garcia-Navarro, “He Worked for Years to Overturn Affirmative Action and Finally Won: He’s Not Done,” www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/us/edward-blum-affirmative-action-race.html.
218 almost all the plaintiffs . . . have been White or Asian “Blum set his sights on recruiting Asian American applicants in particular after his cases with white students alleging discrimination did not yield his desired results.” Hilary Burns, “Meet Edward Blum, the man behind the Harvard affirmative action case,” Boston.com, May 29, 2023, www.boston.com/news/the-boston-globe/2023/05/29/meet-edward-blum-the-man-behind-the-harvard-affirmative-action-case/.
218–219 was behind Shelby County v. Holder in 2013 Garcia-Navarro, “He Worked for Years to Overturn Affirmative Action and Finally Won: He’s Not Done,” www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/us/edward-blum-affirmative-action-race.html.
218–219 required . . . to get approval for new voting measures with . . . civil rights division Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Invalidates Key Part of Voting Rights Act,” New York Times, June 25, 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/us/supreme-court-ruling.html.
219 have flooded state law books Jasleen Singh and Sara Carter, “States Have Added Nearly 100 Restrictive Laws Since SCOTUS Gutted the Voting Rights Act 10 Years Ago,” Brennan Center for Justice, June 23, 2023, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/states-have-added-nearly-100-restrictive-laws-scotus-gutted-voting-rights.
219 declining turnout. . .and Trump’s election victories in 2016 and 2024 A Brennan Center for Justice study published in 2024 examined the impact of the gutting of the preclearance provision on voter turnout. Researchers found that “Shelby County caused a statistically significant increase in both the white–Black and the white–nonwhite turnout gaps. In the non-covered counties, the white–nonwhite and white–Black turnout gaps grew by 5 and 6 percentage points between 2012 and 2022, respectively; in the covered counties, however, the comparable figures were 9 and 11 points, respectively.” “Put differently: the turnout gap grew almost twice as quickly in formerly covered jurisdictions as in other parts of the country with similar demographic and socioeconomic profiles.” Kevin Morris and Coryn Grange, “Growing Racial Disparities in Voter Turnout, 2008–2022, Brennan Center for Justice, March 2, 2024, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/growing-racial-disparities-voter-turnout-2008-2022. On the correlation between the Shelby decision, racial turnout gaps, and Trump’s elections in 2016 and 2024, see William H. Frey, “Census shows pervasive decline in 2016 minority voter turnout,” Brookings Institution, May 18, 2017, www.brookings.edu/articles/census-shows-pervasive-decline-in-2016-minority-voter-turnout/; Desmond Ang, "Do 40-Year-Old Facts Still Matter? Long-Run Effects of Federal Oversight under the Voting Rights Act." Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP18-033, October 2018,scholar.harvard.edu/files/ang/files/vra_ang_final.pdf, 40; Kevin Morris and Coryn Grange, “Racial Turnout Gap Grew in Georgia — Again,” Brennan Center for Justice, December 23, 2024, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/racial-turnout-gap-grew-georgia-again; and Coryn Grange, “Alabama’s Racial Turnout Gap Hit a 16-Year High in 2024,” Brennan Center for Justice, March 4, 2025, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/alabamas-racial-turnout-gap-hit-16-year-high-2024.
219 put on leave or fired DEI personnel across the federal government Alexandra Olson and Zeke Miller, “Trump administration directs all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on leave,” AP News, January 22, 2025, apnews.com/article/dei-trump-executive-order-diversity-834a241a60ee92722ef2443b62572540; and ​​Daniel Wiessner, “Trump's firings of federal workers with DEI jobs were illegal, complaint claims,” Reuters, March 26, 2025, www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-firings-federal-workers-with-dei-jobs-were-illegal-complaint-claims-2025-03-26/.
219 “worshiping at the altar of race and gender” Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, March 16, 2023, 2:35 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110034402803297281, archived at Wayback Machine, March 21, 2023 capture, web.archive.org/web/20230321025246/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110034402803297281, 2:38–2:42.
219 “the abolition of our national borders” Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, March 16, 2023, 2:35 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110034402803297281, archived at web.archive.org/web/20230321025246/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110034402803297281, 2:16–2:19.
219 “the nuclear family and fertility rates” Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, March 16, 2023, 2:35 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110034402803297281, archived at web.archive.org/web/20230321025246/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110034402803297281, 2:26–2:31.
219 “the greatest threat to Western civilization today” Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, March 16, 2023, 2:35 p.m.,truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110034402803297281, archived at web.archive.org/web/20230321025246/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110034402803297281, 2:00–2:04.
219 “the Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral . . .” Donald J. Trump, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” The White House, January 20, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.
219 “that the Federal Government should pursue . . .” Joseph R. Biden Jr., “Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” The White House, January 20, 2021, bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/.
219 “decision-making processes” . . . “policies and programs that serve as barriers to equal opportunity” Biden “Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/.
219 ordered the “termination” . . . the federal government Trump, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.
220 “Anti-Christian Bias” Donald J. Trump, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” The White House, February 6, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/.
220 “the previous Administration engaged . . .” Trump, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/.
220 “Christians to affirm radical transgender ideology against their faith” Trump, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/.
220 “conform to certain beliefs on sexual orientation and gender identity” Trump, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias,” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/eradicating-anti-christian-bias/.
220 “prior administration” for failing "to protect American Jews" Donald J. Trump, "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism," The White House, January 29, 2025, www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/additional-measures-to-combat-anti-semitism/.
220 “the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 . . .” Trump, "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism," www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/additional-measures-to-combat-anti-semitism/.
220 threatening both for-profit and nonprofit organizations . . . Trump, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/; Deena Zaru, “How the Trump administration is working to 'combat' DEI in the private sector,” ABC News, January 29, 2025, abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-working-combat-dei-private-sector/story?id=117975207; U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative,” memorandum to the Office of the Associate Attorney General, Civil Division, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Division, Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, all U.S. Attorneys, May  19, 2025, U.S. DOJ, www.justice.gov/dag/media/1400826/dl?inline; Kanishka Singh, “Trump administration memo asks federal fund recipients to restrict DEI,” Reuters, July 30, 2025, www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-administration-memo-asks-federal-fund-recipients-restrict-dei-2025-07-30/.
220 withheld or threatened to withhold federal funding from institutions U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Deputy Attorney General, “Civil Rights Fraud Initiative,” www.justice.gov/dag/media/1400826/dl?inline; Collin Binkley, “Trump administration gives schools a deadline to end DEI programs or risk losing federal money,” AP, February 18, 2025, www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/trump-administration-gives-schools-a-deadline-to-end-dei-programs-or-risk-losing-federal-money; Jonaki Mehta, “Trump administration freezes more than $2.2 billion after Harvard rejects its demands,” All Things Considered, NPR, April 15, 2025, www.npr.org/2025/04/14/nx-s1-5364829/trump-administration-freezes-funds-after-harvard-rejects-dei-demands; and Chad de Guzman, “What to Know About the Universities That Have Had Their Funding Targeted by the Trump Administration,” Time, April 16, 2025, time.com/7278236/university-funding-trump-harvard-cornell-northwestern-brown-princeton-penn-columbia.
220–221 many corporations and universities . . . Conor Murray and Molly Bohannon, “IBM Reportedly Walks Back Diversity Policies, Citing ‘Inherent Tensions’: Here Are All The Companies Rolling Back DEI Programs,” Forbes, April 11, 2025, www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/04/11/ibm-reportedly-walks-back-diversity-policies-citing-inherent-tensions-here-are-all-the-companies-rolling-back-dei-programs/; Erin Gretzinger et al., “Tracking Higher Ed’s Dismantling of DEI,” Chronicle of Higher Education, updated September 5, 2025, accessed September 9, 2025, www.chronicle.com/article/tracking-higher-eds-dismantling-of-dei; and Alice Speri, "Hope as US universities find 'backbone' against Trump's assault on education," Guardian, April 27, 2025, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/27/universities-oppose-trump-education.
221 the “resegregation” of the United States Karen Attiah, “Opinion: The assault on DEI? It’s aimed at resegregation,” Washington Post, February 6, 2025, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/02/06/dei-gop-segregation/; and Adam Serwer, “The Great Resegregation,” The Atlantic, February 22, 2025, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/02/trump-attacks-dei/681772/.
221 “has as many rights as I have, and I concede them all to him . . .” John J. Hemphill in U.S. Congress, Congressional Record, 51st Congress, 1st Session, 1890, Vol. 21, Part 7 (June 26, 1890), www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1890-pt7-v21/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1890-pt7-v21-12-2.pdf, 6553.
221 “If you succeed in the passage of this bill . . .” Theodore G. Bilbo in U.S. Congress, Congressional Record, 75th Cong., 3rd sess., Vol. 83, Part 1 (January 21, 1938), www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1938-pt1-v83-17-1.pdf, 873.
221 “Anti-White Plot Hatched in Moscow” The Citizens Council quoted in Numan V. Bartley, The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South During the 1950’s (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969), 186. To find the 1999 edition of this book at a library near you, visit search.worldcat.org/title/42416477.
221 “a conspiracy against the white man” Eugene Cook in U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, Civil Rights, 1957: Hearings before Subcommittee on Constitutional Rights, 85th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office, 1957), www.google.com/books/edition/Hearings/C6KXCBUp1lYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA331&printsec=frontcover, 331.
221 “bill, then, which purports to alleviate discrimination, actually . . .” Herman Talmadge in U.S. Congress, Congressional Record, 88th Congress, 2nd Session, 1964, Vol. 110, Part 9 (May 19, 1964), www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt9/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt9-1-1.pdf, 11295.
