The Trump administration wants to use the False Claims Act, a law meant to target fraud by government contractors and federal-funding recipients, as a tool to target universities and other private institutions over their diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
The Justice Department said Monday that the new initiative would utilize the law to go after any institution “knowingly” violating federal civil rights laws despite certifying its compliance with such statutes.
The department cited DEI programs from federal contractors and alleged antisemitism on university campuses as potential areas where the False Claims Act could be implicated.
The effort is part of a broader overhaul of the Justice Department’s civil rights enforcement priorities and as President Donald Trump wages a broad-scale attack on DEI programs in the public and private sectors.
“Institutions that take federal money only to allow anti-Semitism and promote divisive DEI policies are putting their access to federal funds at risk,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate these violations of civil rights – inaction is not an option.”
The False Claims Act allows the government to recover penalties from organizations that may have deceived it when applying for federal contracts or grants. The DOJ can seek treble damages, making it...
On May 19, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a Memorandum creating the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative that will “utilize the False Claims Act to investigate and . . . pursue claims a...