Trump Rescinds Executive Order Forcing ‘Affirmative Action’ On Govt Contractors
Trump on Tuesday rescinded a 1965 executive order signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson that required companies doing contract work for the federal government to institute “affirmative action” programs.
Trump, citing his duty as president to ensure civil rights laws are enforced, said in his executive order that such policies have resulted in “disastrous consequences of illegal, pernicious discrimination that has prioritized how people were born instead of what they were capable of doing.”
This was part of Trump’s broader EO that eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs from the federal government. The EO also specifically refers to Executive Order 11246 (Equal Employment Opportunity). Federal contractors may continue to comply with the original EO for the next 90 days.
The media is unsurprisingly calling this a rollback of civil rights or “anti-discrimination power,” but like DEI, affirmative action was always used to promote people based on race and not merit.
The Supreme Court in 2023 issued a landmark ruling stating that affirmative action policies – specifically those at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina – violated the law and caused discrimination rather than prevented it.
Harvard was found to have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, while UNC was found to have violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, The Daily Wire previously reported.
CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT
In 2013, National Review explained why the Johnson EO is legally questionable:
“It is wrong as a matter of law and policy for DOL’s Office of Federal Contracting Compliance Programs to require covered federal contractors to set goals and timetables whenever they have a certain degree of ‘underrepresentation’ among minorities and women. The regulations’ present approach is at odds with the current case law. It is quite clear that this use of classifications based on race, ethnicity, and sex will trigger judicial strict scrutiny; that mere statistical disparities are not sufficient to justify the use of racial classifications; and that, even if they were, there is no justification for goals and timetables to be triggered when women and minorities are ‘underrepresented’ but not when men and non-minorities are.”
The outlet went on to note that the stated reason for affirmative action programs – past discrimination – no longer applies since discrimination in the federal government has been outlawed since at least 1961. It has been prohibited everywhere since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Following Trump’s executive order, his administration released a memo placing all DEI officials on paid leave by the end of the business day on Wednesday, The Daily Wire reported. It is unclear whether these employees will be reassigned or if a firing process will begin.