The Trump administration announced the repeal of a federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring policy that has been in place since a directive from President Jimmy Carter in 1981. This move comes after decades of efforts to ensure fair hiring practices within federal agencies, sparked by a Supreme Court ruling in 1979 that identified discriminatory patterns in civil service exams.
The policy, commonly referred to as the Carter decree, emerged following the Supreme Court decision in Luevano v. Ezell. The ruling highlighted that black and Hispanic applicants were passing the federal civil service test at significantly lower rates than white candidates, suggesting the presence of systemic bias. To address this, the Carter administration mandated the development of a new civil service test that would yield equal hiring outcomes across racial and ethnic groups, aiming to eliminate any assessment that disproportionately excluded minority candidates.
For nearly 40 years, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has strived to create such an exam but has failed on six separate attempts. As a result, many federal agencies have resorted to hiring without a standardized assessment in place, as reported by The Blaze. With the rescinding of the Carter decree under the Trump administration, federal agencies are no longer required to consider the disparate impacts on minority applicants during hiring, unless a court challenge arises.
The decision has been met with both support and criticism. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon commended the change. "For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation. Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit — not race," she stated in a DOJ press release.
The policy shift followed a complaint by the America First Legal Foundation (AFL), which has argued against what it sees as restrictive hiring rules. AFL’s vice president, Dan Epstein, emphasized the benefits of merit-based recruitment to Fox News, arguing that it enables the government to "do more with less," which is what he believes Americans deserve.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia also voiced her support for merit-based hiring. "Competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less," she declared, invoking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous call for judgment based on character, not identity.
Conversely, the dismantling of the Carter-era rule signifies a departure from federal efforts to mitigate racial disparities in employment through equitable testing outcomes. Critics have argued that the decree placed undue emphasis on race over qualifications, while supporters assert that it was an essential measure against systemic discrimination.
The recent change underscores a broader national conversation surrounding affirmative action and equal opportunity. Some view this as a move toward fairness, while others worry about the impact on diversity in federal workplaces. As courts and agencies navigate these differing views, the full implications of this policy reversal remain uncertain.
