Digital Equity Act grants reinstated is only partly accurate. After a federal court ruling, the Trump administration has agreed to restart the law’s $1.25 billion Competitive Grant Program under revised rules. The broader 2021 law remains intact, but the separate $1.44 billion state capacity program still shows no sign of returning.
The distinction matters for groups that were preparing to provide devices, digital-skills classes, affordable-broadband assistance and human help for people trying to get online. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, or NTIA, said in a joint court filing that it was preparing a new funding notice and intended to accept competitive-grant applications in December, according to Ars Technica. That is a planned reopening, not evidence that grants have begun flowing.
President Donald Trump announced in May 2025 that he would end the Digital Equity Act grant programs, calling the measure racist and unconstitutional. The American Library Association says Commerce Department notices subsequently terminated the grants. Congress had created the $2.75 billion program in the 2021 infrastructure law.
Which Digital Equity Act grants are returning?
Only the competitive program is slated to resume. It accounts for $1.25 billion over five fiscal years and is open to public-sector, private-sector and nonprofit applicants working on digital inclusion. The National Digital Inclusion Alliance, or NDIA, sued the administration over that program after its previously selected $25.7 million award was terminated.
The case did not cover the state capacity grants, which account for $1.44 billion intended for states, territories and tribal entities to carry out digital-equity plans. The evidence available does not show that program being restored. A third pot, $60 million in state planning grants, had already supported states’ development of those plans, according to the American Library Association.
Digital equity is the part of broadband policy that starts after a network is built. A fiber line does little for a household that cannot afford service, lacks a device or needs help using online job, school, health or government services. The original law funded those practical gaps as well as broadband adoption.
Why did the court change the program?
U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled in July that the law’s inclusion of racial and ethnic minority groups as a covered population for the Competitive Grant Program was an unconstitutional racial classification. He also held that provision could be separated from the rest of the program rather than taking the program down with it.
The administration can therefore run the competitive grants using the remaining statutory categories, Ars Technica reported. Those include low-income households; people 60 and older; veterans; people with disabilities; people with language barriers; rural residents; and certain incarcerated people.
The ruling did not require the revival of every Digital Equity Act dollar. It left a race-neutral version of the competitive program available, and the government then committed to administer it. The ALA said in its July 31 update that litigation would continue until that commitment was carried out.
What happens to earlier grant winners?
Prior selections are not automatically back. NDIA said it would need to submit a new application because the administration is restarting the competitive process. Its executive director, Angela Siefer, said the group would first need to review NTIA’s new Notice of Funding Opportunity, according to Ars Technica.
That leaves applicants with a narrower program, a proposed December application window and no confirmed return of the state capacity money. Calling the entire act either dead or restored misses the annoying but consequential administrative reality.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
