HARRISBURG — A broadband grant program that the Trump administration abruptly canceled last year can be restored without language that allowed race to be used as a factor in awarding funding, a federal judge has ruled.
In a case challenging the program’s termination, U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed with federal officials that the underlying law is unconstitutional, because it allowed grants to be awarded based on “explicit racial classification.” But he also said the program was “perfectly capable” of functioning without this element.
“Common sense,” Bates wrote, “dictates that Congress would prefer to have a version of the Digital Equity Act without the racial criterion than to have no law at all.”
The decision clears the way for the grant program, which aims to address barriers that keep people from being able to access the internet, to move ahead. Questions remain, however, about how much of the $2.75 billion originally allocated will be restored, and what the latest version of the program will look like.
Pennsylvania was in line to receive more than $35 million before the grants were canceled.
“I’m proud, but it’s also really frustrating that we have to do this at all,” said Angela Siefer, executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, which filed the lawsuit challenging the termination of the program.
Siefer said she felt confident that it would be restored, but “whether it actually meets its original intent is a different question.”
The removal of the racial criteria, she added, represents “a whitewashing of our history.”
Breaking down barriers
Congress passed the Digital Equity Act in 2021 as part of the sweeping, bipartisan infrastructure package that also included billions of dollars to build out high-speed internet networks.
Even where broadband is available, however, many people cannot afford to pay for it, or they lack the necessary skills or devices to use it, advocates say.
The Digital Equity Act aimed to address these barriers by providing funding for digital skills classes and affordable devices, and helping people access online services. The grants were intended to benefit groups that have historically faced challenges accessing the internet, including racial and ethnic minorities, older adults, low-income households, residents of rural areas, and veterans.
The categories were broad enough that almost 80% of Pennsylvanian residents fell into at least one of them, state documents show.
In many cases, grant awards had been recommended, but not finalized, before President Joe Biden left office in early 2025.
The day President Donald Trump took office, he signed an executive order to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across the federal government, part of a broader crackdown on such initiatives.
The digital equity funding was revoked last May. It was part of a wider pattern of federal grants canceled by the current administration, and led to a wave of legal challenges.
In October, the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, which was originally awarded a grant worth roughly $25 million, filed a lawsuit arguing that the president cannot singlehandedly cancel funding that has been approved by Congress.
The Trump administration, meanwhile, argued that the Digital Equity Act was unconstitutional because it allowed the allocation of funding based, at least in part, on whether grants would serve members of a “racial or ethnic minority group.”
Federal officials initially held that the entire program should be rescinded, but an attorney representing the government later acknowledged that it could continue without the racial criteria.
Judge Bates pointed to this in a July 15 ruling, saying that the government “plans to imminently reinstate” the grant program and “must fashion new guidelines.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called the ruling a “MASSIVE Victory for Common Sense and our Constitution,” describing the legislation that created the program as “a RACIST and UNCONSTITUTIONAL giveaway that never should have become Law.”
In addition to the $1.25 billion grant program at issue in the lawsuit, the Digital Equity Act included another $1.44 billion to be divided among states according to a formula based on broadband availability and population. It’s not clear whether that funding will also be restored.
Between the two programs, Pennsylvania was originally supposed to receive more than $35 million. That included grants for the city of Philadelphia to teach digital skills and provide discounted internet subscriptions, and for the state to help residents of 10 rural counties in northern Pennsylvania access telehealth.
Bates directed both sides to file an update by Aug. 1.
A spokesperson for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which is responsible for administering the program, said in a statement that the agency “will comply” with the court’s ruling and was “evaluating the appropriate next steps.”