President Trump Revokes 60-Year-Old Executive Order Requiring Equal Employment Opportunity in Government Contracting
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled, “ Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity .” The order is targeted at what the president describes as “illegal” diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies that: . . . not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. The order declares that it is the policy of the United States: to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement acti...