This supplemental report tracks key legal developments over the last year stemming from ongoing efforts to misuse the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) decision to undermine racial equity and other work towards greater inclusion.

Legal attacks on programs promoting racial equality accelerated following the June 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (collectively, SFFA). While this decision undermined long-standing legal precedent concerning the consideration of race as part of college admissions, the SFFA decision was narrow in scope and limited to higher education admissions. However, far-right organizations and political extremists have invoked the SFFA opinion to broadly attack diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives. In response, Democracy Forward Foundation, alongside our civil rights and public interest allies, is actively litigating to defend critical DEIA initiatives.

We catalogued SFFA-related anti-DEIA attacks in our 2024 report, Safeguarding and Strengthening Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Initiatives, identifying more than 70 cases nationwide. This 2025 supplemental report tracks key legal developments over the last year. These attacks broadly target seven key sectors: workplaces, grant programs, government boards, government-run services and programs, health care systems, educational institutions, and voting access.