Yesterday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) gutted regulations that help ensure federal funding recipients don’t maintain discriminatory policies against Black communities and other groups that experience discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. Specifically, the agency announced it will cease to enforce disparate impact liability – a long-standing civil rights enforcement tool used to identify the most insidious forms of discrimination in policing, employment, housing, education, and healthcare.
Without considering disparate impact, communities that suffer disproportionate and avoidable harm on account of race or other protected characteristics will have little to no recourse. Notably, DOJ bypassed federal laws requiring agencies to provide notice to the public and an opportunity to comment on proposed rules. Instead, DOJ issued a new, final rule eliminating these regulations without any public input. This move likely violates the Administrative Procedure Act and other laws.
Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund issued the following statement in response:
“At a time when countless people across the country are struggling to make ends meet and secure a dignified future for themselves, federal agencies should be doing everything in their power to ensure our laws fully protect us from discrimination that locks people out of opportunity. By going behind the backs of the American people to remove disparate impact protections, which ensure all communities are treated equally, the Department of Justice is instead making us all less safe and vulnerable to social and economic harm.
“For decades, disparate impact rules have helped the federal government remove unfair barriers and fight unlawful racial discrimination in all its forms. This decision by DOJ is an unprecedented and dangerous step in the wrong direction and should not be allowed to go into effect.
“As the civil rights organization responsible for ensuring disparate impact was codified into law, the Legal Defense Fund will staunchly oppose any actions meant to undermine the lives and livelihoods of Black people in America.”
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957 — although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
