DOJ legal opinion declares three NSF STEM programs unconstitutional over race and gender rules

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a memorandum stating that three National Science Foundation STEM programs—Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate, and Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation—are unconstitutional because they rely on race- and sex-based criteria, violating the Constitution’s equal-protection clause.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Josh Craddock signed the opinion, which instructs NSF not to continue the programs in their existing form and prohibits shifting the roughly $104 million allocated to them within the agency’s $938 million STEM education budget. Two other NSF programs may continue if their discriminatory provisions are removed, while four reviewed programs were deemed constitutional. NSF spokesperson Michael England refused to comment on the department’s findings or potential actions. Critics, including Rep. George Whitesides, warned the decision could undermine equal-opportunity efforts in the nation’s STEM workforce.