On August 1, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissed a Carter-era order that made hiring practices based on diversity, equity, and inclusion within the federal government’s workforce.
The DOJ argues that the federal government has been hindered from hiring superior job candidates due to this order, which is derived from a 1979 court case called Luevano v. Ezell. In light of the decision (known as the Luevano consent decree) the DOJ states that the federal government was required to issue “test review and implementation procedures on the Office of Personnel Management—and consequently all other federal agencies—requiring them to receive permission prior to using any tests for potential federal employees, in an attempt to require equal testing outcomes among all races of test-takers.”
America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit against the order, accusing it of violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia in May, preceding the DOJ’s action against the order months later, filed on August 1.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division commented on the repeal of the Luevano consent decree.
“For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation,” Dhillon said. “Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit—not race.”
Similarly, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro welcomed the repeal of the Luevano consent decree.
“It’s simple, competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less,” Pirro said. “It’s about time people are judged, not by their identity, but instead ‘by the content of their character.’”
