DOJ scraps race-based hiring decree that was meant to boost diversity in federal workforce

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it has ended a decades-old race-based decree affecting federal hiring practices as it continues implementation of some of the earliest executive orders of President Donald Trump’s second term.

The decree was the result of a 1979 lawsuit alleging that an exam used by the federal Civil Service Commission as part of its hiring process was discriminatory, as the plaintiffs claimed it disproportionately disqualified black and Hispanic applicants, according to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse.

Under the decree, the federal government eliminated the exam and created two new hiring programs for certain entry-level administrative positions. Through the Outstanding Scholars program, applicants who had obtained a minimum GPA of 3.45 could qualify for such positions, often with opportunities for advancement.

Through the Bilingual/Bicultural program, applicants who spoke a foreign language or had rich knowledge of another culture could qualify for a job that otherwise might have a more competitive hiring process.

“For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Harmeet Dhillon. “Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit—not race.”

Prior to this administration, the decree did at times receive negative attention in the past, with various leadership in the Office of Personnel Management claiming that the decree-commissioned programs interfered with merit-based hiring or conflicted with other federal hiring guidelines. In 2007, then-OPM Director Linda Springer issued a memo discouraging government agencies from using the hiring programs any longer, saying the programs conflicted with a then-recent decision of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Newly appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro echoed Dhillon’s words on the revocation of the decree.

“It’s simple, competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less,” Pirro said in a statement. “It’s about time people are judged, not by their identity, but instead ‘by the content of their character.’”