Hakeem Jeffries Tells Activist Audience DEI Is Explicitly Written Into Constitution

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told left-wing activists Thursday that the Trump administration was carrying out an “all-out assault on civil rights” by opposing diversity, equity and inclusion.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order within hours of taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, mandating an end to DEI efforts in the federal government. Jeffries told attendees of the National Action Network annual convention that DEI was mandated by the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. (RELATED: Lawyer Tied To Infamous Anti-Trump Dossier Admits Fearing Bondi Replacement)

“No matter what these extremists are trying to do with their all-out assault on civil rights, on voting rights, certainly on diversity, equity and inclusion — and we won’t let these extremists get away with lying to the American people,” the New York Democrat maintained. “They want to suggest that diversity, equity, and inclusion are foreign values. They’re not foreign values, they’re American values.”

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“Let’s just check the record. The motto of this great country, ‘E pluribus unum,’ that’s the motto of this great country, ‘Out of many, one.’ That’s diversity,” Jeffries continued. “One of the most important constitutional amendments in this country, a Reconstruction amendment, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, contains the Equal Protection Clause. And the Equal Protection Clause in the 14th Amendment promises equal protection under the law. That’s equity.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced his department would scrap racial and gender quotas for promotions in a Sept. 30 speech to assembled general and flag officers. Hegseth also said that there would only be one combat fitness standard that all troops serving in combat roles would be required to meet.

“And all across this country, from sea to shining sea, in the land of the free and the home of the brave, when people say the Pledge of Allegiance, they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That’s inclusion,” Jeffries said. “So, diversity, equity, and inclusion — we’re teaching the extremists something — these aren’t foreign values, these are American values. And when you attack diversity, equity, and inclusion, you attack the United States of America.” (RELATED: ‘It’s Insane’: Obama’s Former Chief Of Staff Says Democrats ‘Lost The Plot’)

“We have the high ground on this issue, which is why I’m so thankful that Reverend Sharpton and the National Action Network continues to lean in,” Jeffries added.

Citing the 14th Amendment, the Supreme Court struck down admission policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard that took race into account, with a 6-3 ruling in the case of North Carolina and a 6-2 ruling in the case of Harvard in June 2023.

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