Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy

Purpose and Principles

Fundamental Principle: All U.S. citizens are treated equally under the law, focusing on equality of opportunity not equal outcomes.
- Emphasizes individual treatment over group characteristics.
- Supports meritocracy and a colorblind society.
Issues Identified:
- A movement termed 'disparate-impact liability' threatens this principle.
- Disparate-impact liability suggests unlawful discrimination if there are outcome differences among races or sexes, even without discriminatory policies.
- It pressures businesses towards racial balancing to avoid legal issues, hindering merit-based employment.
- Supreme Court's stance: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

The U.S. aims to eliminate disparate-impact liability to uphold constitutional values and meritocracy.

Revocation of past Presidential approvals of specific Department of Justice Title VI regulations that supported disparate-impact liability.

All agencies advised to deprioritize enforcement of regulations involving disparate-impact liability.

Attorney General to lead actions to repeal/amend regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that consider disparate-impact liability.
Report on existing laws imposing disparate-impact liability to be presented within 30 days.

Actions to be taken on investigations and civil suits based on disparate-impact liability within 45 days.
Further review of pending proceedings and consent judgments within 90 days, following the policy directive.

Determine federal authority over state laws imposing disparate-impact liability.
Issue guidance on promoting equal employment access, focusing beyond college education.

The order includes a clause ensuring that if any part is invalid, the remainder stays effective.
Implementation to comply with applicable laws and resource availability.
Does not create enforceable rights or benefits against the U.S. government.