On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at eliminating enforcement of “disparate impact” discrimination claims, asserting that the disparate impact liability theory—used by courts for over five decades—violates the U.S. Constitution, “by requiring race-oriented policies and practices to rebalance outcomes along racial lines.” The executive order, titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy,” broadly addresses federal civil rights laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, by:
- Revoking certain presidential actions that approve the disparate impact theory of liability.
- Ordering all federal agencies to “deprioritize enforcement of all statutes and regulations” that “impose” disparate impact liability (notably including by its terms “other laws or decisions, including at the State level, that impose disparate impact liability”).
- Directing the U.S. attorney general to repeal or amend Title VI regulations that contemplate disparate impact liability (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects every person in the U.S. from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance).
- Requiring the U.S. attorney general and the chair of the EEOC to review all pending investigations and suits under federal civil rights law that rely on a theory of disparate impact liability, and “take appropriate action with respect to such matters consistent with the policy” of the...
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