Trump Revokes Workplace Discrimination Rules From The Civil Rights Era

Yesterday, President Trump revoked a six-decade-old executive order that prohibited workplace discrimination by federal contractors. President Lyndon Baine Johnson had signed the executive order just one year after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months after the Voting Rights Act.

Trump revokes Executive Order 11246

Executive Order 11246 stopped federal contractors from discriminating against employees on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This law applied to federal contractors and was implemented just two years after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial.

Now, the White House says it wants to reaffirm “individual dignity, hard work, and excellence” by terminating “radical DEI.”

Trump Dismantles DEI In Federal Government

Trump’s decision to revoke Executive Order 11246 is the latest in President Donald Trump’s string of attacks on DEI in the first few days of his presidency.

On Monday, January 20, his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order terminating any diversity and inclusion actions in the federal government. On Tuesday, Trump instructed all federal agencies to put employees in DEI roles on administrative leave by 5 pm EST the following day and make plans to lay them off by the end of the month. Agencies are also being instructed to cut offices’ websites and social media accounts and to remove any DEI-related training.

The orders extend beyond the government. The Attorney General has been given 120 days to submit “recommendations for enforcing Federal civil-rights laws and taking other appropriate measures to encourage the private sector to end illegal discrimination and preferences, including DEI.” They must also also create a plan to deter the private sector from adopting or continuing DEI programs.

Why is Trump rolling back anti-discrimination measures?

President Trump started speaking out against the DEI hiring practices that arose after the Black Lives Matter movement during his 2024 election campaign, according to Times Now World. The latest move aligns with Trump’s plan to create a “merit-based” and “colorblind” society.

Axios reported that Trump allies want to significantly transform the government’s current view of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on “anti-white racism” rather than discrimination against people of color.

Leavitt said in a statement on January 21 that “President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” according to NBC news.

Image: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, National Archives