After decades of an imposed standard on perceived injustice requiring no “evidence of intentional discrimination,” the Department of Justice took a major step toward restoring “true equality.”
While diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, has only entered common parlance in recent years, its roots have dug in deep throughout the institutions in various attempts at social justice. As President Donald Trump made it a priority to restore a system of meritocracy and do away with Marxist ideologies, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division announced the restoration of equal protection by nixing regulations on so-called disparate impact.
Announced in a press release on Tuesday, the department explained the final rule regarding Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was updated, where it concerned civil rights enforcement by “eliminating disparate-impact liability.”
“The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies without evidence of intentional discrimination,” explained Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in a statement. “Our rejection of this theory will restore true equality under the law by requiring proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.”
Department of Justice Rule Restores Equal Protection for All in Civil Rights Enforcement
“The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies, without evidence of intentional discrimination,” said @AAGDhillon. “Our… pic.twitter.com/EjhLR6WhWe
— DOJ Civil Rights Division (@CivilRights) December 9, 2025
In her own statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed, “For decades, the Justice Department has used disparate-impact liability to undermine the constitutional principle that all Americans must be treated equally under the law.”
“No longer. This Department of Justice is eliminating its regulations that for far too long required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race,” added Bondi.
According to the release, “The Department’s new rule ensures that recipients of federal funding will be judged on their actual conduct, not on statistical outcomes or circumstances beyond their control.”
The final rule followed an executive order issued by Trump in April toward restoring equality of opportunity and meritocracy that called for the elimination of disparate-impact liability “in all contexts to the maximum degree possible.”
President Trump just delivered a knockout blow for meritocracy https://t.co/0cXd4YZvN2 via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) April 25, 2025
In addition to sharing disfavor for the move, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund took umbrage with the DOJ’s decision to forego the notice-and-comment process and make the change without input from the public.
“The Trump administration cannot claim to value equality by undermining the very laws that keep people protected from discrimination,” NAACP-LDF senior policy counsel Amalea Smirniotopoulos said, according to Politico. “Removing the Department of Justice’s regulations prohibiting unfair discriminatory policies takes away critical safeguards against the most insidious forms of exclusion …”
Meanwhile, a report from Reuters focused on a letter signed by over 200 former employees, released the same day as the final rule. In it, the scores of jilted social justice advocates who’d admittedly left the Civil Rights Division as a result of moves to right the ship, or what they referred to as “witnessing this administration destroy much of our work,” lamented steps taken to drop lawsuits, reports, and settlement agreements regarding perceived “systemic discrimination.”
Reacting to the gnashing of teeth, Dhillon took to X and wrote, “Bless their hearts! This is like arsonists setting fire to their house and then claiming homelessness. When I told @civilrights lawyers their job was to protect ALL Americans, not just perpetual victims, they quit en masse. We’re crushing it in all categories, no apologies!”
She concluded with the expression “fortune favors the bold” in Latin, “Audentes fortuna iuvat!”
Bless their hearts! This is like arsonists setting fire to their house and then claiming homelessness. When I told @civilrights lawyers their job was to protect ALL Americans, not just perpetual victims, they quit en masse. We’re crushing it in all categories, no apologies!… https://t.co/kVlg5EoEiu
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) December 9, 2025
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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