The legal and regulatory landscape surrounding corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs has undergone significant transformation over the past year. What started with an Executive Order (EO) signed by President Trump on the day he was inaugurated for his second term in early 2025 has quickly expanded into coordinated, multi-federal agency and states attorneys general enforcement efforts—one that now impacts nearly every aspect of corporate DEI strategy. Federal contractors and subcontractors, in particular, face new certification requirements and heightened risk of potential False Claims Act (FCA) liability. At the same time, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has intensified its scrutiny of DEI initiatives leading to litigation and subpoena enforcement efforts, and companies must navigate an increasingly complex patchwork of sometimes conflicting state and federal requirements.

These changes have already begun to reshape how public companies approach and disclose information to their shareholders about their own diversity initiatives. In 2025, we observed early signs that S&P 500 companies were revising, shortening, or eliminating DEI-related disclosures from their 10-K filings.[1] That trend has accelerated sharply: by early 2026, only 55 percent of S&P 500 companies included any diversity-related disclosure in their 10-K—down from 97 percent in 2024. Notably, just 8 percent continued to use the term “DEI” or similar language in their 10-K filings, a sharp decline from 90 percent only two years earlier.

This article provides an updated analysis of these evolving legal and regulatory dynamics affecting corporate DEI programs. We also examine how disclosure practices are changing across the S&P 500, with a focus on the financial sector and the new terminology companies are now adopting in place of DEI.

(more…)