The Trump administration has quietly ended a federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring policy that dates back to a 1981 directive from President Jimmy Carter.
This directive was introduced following the 1979 Supreme Court decision in Luevano v. Ezell, which found the government’s civil service exam to be unlawfully discriminatory.
The court ruled that black and Hispanic applicants consistently passed the test at lower rates than white candidates, prompting reforms to ensure fairer hiring procedures within federal agencies, according to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
In response, Carter ordered federal agencies to develop a new civil service test designed to produce equal hiring outcomes across racial and ethnic groups.
This policy, known as the Carter decree, aimed to eliminate systemic bias by requiring assessments that did not disproportionately exclude minority candidates.
Over nearly four decades, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) attempted six times to create such an exam but failed each time.
Consequently, federal agencies often hired employees without administering a comparable standardized assessment, according to The Blaze.
The expiration of the Carter decree under the Trump administration effectively removes the federal requirement to consider disparate impacts on minority applicants during hiring, except when