Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy

The order revokes two presidential approvals — from 1966 and 1973 — of DOJ Title VI regulations that authorized disparate-impact liability, stripping specific regulatory provisions of force. It directs all federal agencies to immediately deprioritize enforcement of any statute or regulation relying on disparate-impact liability, including Title VII employment provisions and several specific Code of Federal Regulations sections. The Attorney General is directed to initiate proceedings to repeal or amend all Title VI implementing regulations agency-wide that contemplate disparate-impact liability.

The order sets layered review deadlines: within 30 days, the AG reports on all existing disparate-impact regulations and state-level laws; within 45 days, the AG and EEOC assess pending civil rights investigations and suits, while named agency heads review proceedings under the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act; within 90 days, all agencies evaluate existing consent decrees. A severability clause ensures the remaining provisions survive if any portion is struck down.

All federal agencies that enforce civil rights laws — especially the Department of Justice, EEOC, HUD, CFPB, and FTC — and the employers, lenders, and landlords who have faced disparate-impact claims. Communities and individuals who historically relied on disparate-impact enforcement under Title VII, the Fair Housing Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act are also directly affected.

Federal agencies will stop pursuing new disparate-impact cases and must reassess active proceedings and consent decrees. Employers and lenders whose neutral policies produced unequal outcomes gain immediate protection from federal enforcement. Workers, renters, and borrowers who relied on disparate-impact theory as a civil rights remedy lose a key enforcement tool.

The regulatory revocations in Section 3 and the deprioritization mandate in Section 4 take effect immediately upon signing. A 30-to-90-day reporting and review cycle then follows, coordinated by the Attorney General and reported to the White House Domestic Policy office. Actual repeal of implementing regulations requires notice-and-comment rulemaking, so full regulatory change will take longer. The order lacks explicit penalties for agencies missing reporting deadlines but frames all reviews as mandatory rather than discretionary.