Judge Strikes Down Race-Based Provision in Biden-Era Internet Access Grant Program

The judge said the competitive grant program could be reinstated without the race-based provision.

A judge's gavel rests on top of a desk in a courtroom in Miami, Fla., on Feb. 3, 2009. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A federal judge ruled on July 15 that a race-based provision of the Digital Equity Act, signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 to close digital gaps, was unconstitutional.

The Digital Equity Act was part of Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which appropriated $2.75 billion to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to establish grant programs to expand high-speed internet access for minority groups and communities in rural areas.

After taking office for a second term last year, President Donald Trump halted the competitive grant program authorized under the Digital Equity Act, saying it was unconstitutional because it allocated federal funding based on race.

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, a recipient of the competitive grant program, later filed a lawsuit in October 2025 seeking to reinstate the program.

In a 35-page order, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled that the Digital Equity Act’s provision authorizing the use of race in awarding federal funds was unconstitutional, citing the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that struck down race-based preferences in higher education admissions.

Bates said that while the Digital Equity Act aims to address the digital divide among minority groups and other covered populations, the Supreme Court precedent showed that remedying general social disparities alone does not justify the use of race in government action.

“Addressing that gap is a laudable goal, but the Supreme Court has admonished that ameliorating general societal inequalities—as opposed to specific instances of past discrimination—‘does not constitute a compelling interest that justifies race-based state action,’” the judge stated.

“Otherwise, Congress could deploy racial classifications when confronted with any situation of an uneven resource distribution.”

Bates said the grant program could be reinstated without the race-based provision, and the government had committed to restoring it upon a judicial determination that the provision was unconstitutional.

Trump welcomed the ruling in a Truth Social post, calling it a “big win” for the American people.

“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,” he wrote.

The decision to end the Digital Equity Act comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from federal agencies and government initiatives.

Trump stated in a Jan. 20, 2025, executive order that the previous administration had forced “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” across virtually “all aspects of the federal government” through DEI initiatives.

Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Networks Initiative at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, credited the National Digital Inclusion Alliance with helping to secure the program’s restoration.

“Yesterday’s ruling on the Digital Equity Competitive Grant Program is, on balance, a victory,” Mitchell said in a statement. “The only real question now is how quickly NTIA moves to actually implement it.”

The National Digital Inclusion Alliance did not return a request for comment by publication time.