Trump Law Firm Targets University of Colorado Boulder in "DEI" Free Speech Lawsuit

A national law firm known for representing Donald Trump and Elon Musk is setting its sights on the University of Colorado Boulder, accusing the school of "Orwellian" free speech suppression against a conservative student.

The Dhillon Law Group filed a federal lawsuit against CU Boulder on February 5 on behalf of third-year undergraduate student Zoe Johnson. It argues that university officials violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by meeting with Johnson in response to complaints from her classmates relating to her comments on race and the LGBTQ community during choir practices.

The lawsuit demands that the university stop enforcing its nondiscrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination and harassment based on protected-class identity. The suit also requests monetary relief for Johnson's "emotional and academic harm."

“Public universities cannot weaponize vague and subjective ‘nondiscrimination’ policies to silence students with opinions that diverge from the prevailing campus orthodoxy,” says attorney Matthew Sarelson. “Zoe Johnson was not targeted for harassment or discrimination — she was targeted because she asked reasonable questions in a learning environment that claims to encourage open discussion.”

According to the lawsuit, several students reported Johnson to faculty on at least three occasions. The first was in September 2022, when Johnson told a choir member, “I don’t care about your identity, I care more about what you have to say as a person, more than how you look," in reference to racial identity. A student complained about the comment to the choir director, who met with Johnson and allegedly "shame[d]" her.

The second incident was in October 2024 following a choir lesson discussing LGBTQ History Month, the lawsuit states. During the lesson, Johnson allegedly said, “Why do we need two months of this? Didn’t we do this back in June?” This time, multiple students reported her comment to the director.

The final occurrence was later the same month. The lawsuit's description of the incident is more vague than the rest, but it claims a classmate reported Johnson to the director for questioning why one of the choir members was wearing a durag.

The choir director requested to meet with Johnson in late October to discuss the complaints, according to the lawsuit. Johnson refused, accusing the director of "harassment" after they exchanged four emails. The director then passed the reports on to CU's compliance office, which contacted Johnson asking for a meeting to "share [her] perspective" on the reported incidents, specifying that she was not being investigated or penalized.

When Johnson asked what the consequences of refusing the meeting would be, the compliance office said her school account could potentially be put on hold, meaning she couldn't register for new classes, according to copies of emails in the lawsuit.

“I was just trying to have conversations, to understand people’s perspectives,” Johnson said in a statement provided by the law firm. “But instead of encouraging dialogue, they made me feel like a criminal for simply asking questions.”

The Dhillon Law Group did not respond to requests for an interview with Johnson. CU Boulder spokesperson Nicole Mueksch says the university cannot comment on the lawsuit, but CU had not yet been served as of last week.

In a social media post from lead attorney Sarelson, he promoted the lawsuit as responding to "the illegal discriminatory practice of DEI at the University" and "threats by the University’s DEI office."

The lawsuit was not filed against CU's "DEI office," but the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance, which is responsible for enforcing the university's nondiscrimination policies. CU removed its diversity, equity and inclusion webpage in January, renaming the office as the Office of Leadership Support and Programming. Another office called the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement closed in 2023.

The law firm's rhetoric targeting DEI comes as the Trump administration has moved to eliminate diversity programs in the federal government, public institutions and private sector. Last week, his administration warned of federal funding cuts for universities that continue DEI programs.

However, conservative law groups have been targeting diversity and equity programs at colleges for years now, with at least seven lawsuits filed against California universities since 2020.

The Dhillon Law Group has deep ties to Trump. He nominated the firm's founder, Harmeet Dhillon, to lead the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and picked one of its partners, David Warrington, as his White House counsel.

The firm was the primary outside counsel to Trump’s presidential campaign and has represented him in many cases, including the congressional investigation into the January 6 insurrection and a defamation lawsuit against Trump brought by the exonerated Central Park Five. It is also leading a lawsuit by Musk's company, accusing advertisers of boycotting X (formerly Twitter) after Musk took over.

The CU Boulder lawsuit is being supported by Young America’s Foundation, a youth conservative group that serves on the advisory board for Project 2025. In 2017, the Dhillon Law Group represented Young America's Foundation in a free speech lawsuit against the University of California Berkeley after the university canceled a speaking event for controversial right-wing pundit Anne Coulter.

Johnson is a member of the foundation's affiliate group, Young Americans for Freedom.