I previously wrote how Trump Signed Executive Orders Rescinding Biden’s “Racial Equity” Agenda and Eliminating DEI Throughout Federal Government. Those executive orders rescinded Biden’s 2021 and 2023 “Racial Equity” executive orders, and also banned DEI within federal agencies and programs. That was big. Pursuant to those executive orders, federal DEI staffers were put on leave and DEI offices ordered closed starting at 5 p.m. today.
But that was nothing compared to the Executive Order signed last night, January 21, 2025, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (the “Merit-Baed EO”), which targets discrimination done in the name of DEI.
That terminology might sound familiar to you, as our Equal Protection Project (EqualProtect.org) has been fighting such DEI discrimination for two years. I’d like to think that the massive publicity our actions have received helped set the stage for these political changes.
The purpose of the Merit-Based EO is to bring various institutions into alignment with existing anti-discrmination laws:
Yet today, roughly 60 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) or “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation….The Federal Government is charged with enforcing our civil-rights laws. The purpose of this order is to ensure that it does so by ending illegal preferences and discrimination.
All the government needs to do is enforce existing law. That’s a point we make all the time.
The Merit-Based EO then terminates numerous prior federal affirmative action programs and bars DEI discrimination in federal contracting and grant-making. EPP has not yet challenged discriminatory federal grant requirements, which are pervasive, that was on our “to do” list, now we don’t have to do it (at least not for four more years). Given the economic largesse of the federal government, these contracting and grant-making changes are huge.
But it’s not as huge as what comes next. The Merit-Based EO takes aim at the private sector and higher education, holding the sledgehammer of loss of funding and civil rights actions by the Justice Department, requesting a report within 120 days on the worst offenders and targets for federal action (emphasis added):
Sec. 4. Encouraging the Private Sector to End Illegal DEI Discrimination and Preferences.(a) The heads of all agencies, with the assistance of the Attorney General, shall take all appropriate action with respect to the operations of their agencies to advance in the private sector the policy of individual initiative, excellence, and hard work identified in section 2 of this order.(b) To further inform and advise me so that my Administration may formulate appropriate and effective civil-rights policy, the Attorney General, within 120 days of this order, in consultation with the heads of relevant agencies and in coordination with the Director of OMB, shall submit a report to the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy containing recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI. The report shall contain a proposed strategic enforcement plan identifying:(i) Key sectors of concern within each agency’s jurisdiction;(ii) The most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern;(iii) A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles (whether specifically denominated “DEI” or otherwise) that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences. As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars;(iv) Other strategies to encourage the private sector to end illegal DEI discrimination and preferences and comply with all Federal civil-rights laws;(v) Litigation that would be potentially appropriate for Federal lawsuits, intervention, or statements of interest; and(vi) Potential regulatory action and sub-regulatory guidance.Sec. 5. Other Actions. Within 120 days of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall jointly issue guidance to all State and local educational agencies that receive Federal funds, as well as all institutions of higher education that receive Federal grants or participate in the Federal student loan assistance program under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq., regarding the measures and practices required to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).
Through our work at EPP, we have already identified numerous recalcitrant and systematically discriminatory institutions who deserve formal DOJ investigation, at minimum, and we will be making our findings public long in advance of the OMB report required by the Merit-Based EO.
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