President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” banning affirmative action and racial preferencing, including “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, in federal contracting and publicly-funded universities.
Trump’s executive order rescinds Executive Order 11246, issued by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, which established Affirmative Action.
The order lists its purpose as enforcing existing Civil Rights law by ending racial and sex-based preferences and discrimination sanctioned by DEI. The order also mandates that the attorney general and secretary of education issue guidance for compliance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned affirmative action in university admissions.
Trump’s executive order also seeks to combat DEI discrimination in the private sector, including through the use of civil compliance investigations.
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