The Department of Justice announced that it has repealed a 44-year-old hiring decree rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideas. The policy reversal, brought about through the department’s Civil Rights Division, restores merit-based hiring practices.
The decree, dating to 1981, imposed “draconian test review and implementation procedures on the Office of Personnel Management,” the DOJ explained, a move that affected other federal agencies by “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.”
The decree led to the federal government agreeing to eliminate the Professional and Administrative Career Examination (PACE) tool on the allegation that it “violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because it had an adverse impact on blacks and Hispanics,” a 2007 memo on the issue says. According to the memorandum, the establishment of the “Outstanding Scholar and Bilingual/Bicultural hiring authorities” aimed to improve diversity.
“For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement. “Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit—not race.”
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia similarly stated that “competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less.” She added, “It’s about time people are judged, not by their identity, but instead ‘by the content of their character.’”
