By Trendsetter Tribune 
LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) moved to intervene in a high-profile federal lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. The litigation, originally filed by the conservative 1776 Project Foundation, alleges that the nation’s second-largest school district maintains a decades-old funding and resource system that unconstitutionally discriminates against a “new minority”: White students.
The intervention marks a significant shift in federal civil rights enforcement, with Attorney General Pam Bondi framing the case as a necessary step toward “color-blind” justice in American education.
The “PHBAO” Program Under Fire
At the heart of the legal battle is the Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other Non-Anglo (PHBAO) program, a 1960s-era integration initiative.
- The Classification: LAUSD currently classifies schools as “PHBAO” if more than 70% of their resident student population is non-White. In a district where White students make up only 10.7% of the population, roughly 600 out of 700 schools meet this criteria.
- The “Spoils”: PHBAO-designated schools receive preferential funding to ensure smaller class sizes (a maximum of 25 students per teacher vs. an average of 34.5 at non-PHBAO schools) and are required to hold more frequent parent-teacher conferences.
- The “Magnet” Advantage: The lawsuit claims PHBAO students receive extra “points” in the competitive admissions process for prestigious magnet programs, effectively penalizing White students based solely on their ancestry.
DOJ: “The Era of Racial Preferences is Over”
In a blistering “complaint in intervention,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon argued that LAUSD’s policies treat racial diversity as a “handicap” and have outlived any legitimate desegregation purpose.
“Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion—it is a core constitutional guarantee. This Department of Justice will never stop fighting to make that guarantee a reality, including for public-school students in Los Angeles.” — Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Feb 18, 2026
| Argument | DOJ / Plaintiff Position |
| Class Sizes | Argue it is “incoherent” to deny White students smaller classes because they are a “minority” in a majority-Hispanic district. |
| “Racial Spoils” | The DOJ characterizes the funding as a “system of racial spoils” that assumes non-White students require extra help solely due to their race. |
| The 1960s Legacy | Claims the district is using a “60-year-old band-aid” for a problem (de jure segregation) that has long since been resolved. |
California’s Counter-Offensive
The lawsuit has set up a massive legal showdown between the Trump administration and the State of California. Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-CA) has aggressively defended the district’s right to address “systemic inequities.”
- The “1776” Backlash: Critics of the lawsuit, including education advocates, argue that the PHBAO program is a vital tool for supporting schools in historically underserved neighborhoods.
- The $4.9 Billion Threat: This intervention comes just days after AG Bonta sued the administration to block a separate threat to withhold $4.9 billion in federal education funding over transgender “parental notification” policies.
- Academic Defense: LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has maintained that the district is committed to “meaningful access” for all, though the district has declined to comment on the specific “new minority” framing of the suit.
The “New Frontier” of Civil Rights
Legal analysts view this intervention as part of a broader “Second Reconstruction” of federal law. Under the current administration, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has pivoted toward investigating “reverse discrimination” in schools and corporations, mirroring recent actions taken against U.S. Medical Schools and companies like Nike over their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) practices.