Trump’s DOJ weaponizes “Neutrality” as a wrecking ball for civil rights
In a move that would make George Orwell proud, the Trump Department of Justice has announced it is “restoring equal protection” by rewriting civil rights enforcement rules to declare that discrimination is a problem only if it is done out loud and on purpose. The new rule scraps protections against policies that disproportionately harm marginalized communities because acknowledging disparate impact is apparently too “woke” for today’s sick version of Lady Justice and Old Man Liberty.
“For decades, the Justice Department has used disparate-impact liability to undermine the constitutional principle that all Americans must be treated equally under the law,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No longer. This Department of Justice is eliminating its regulations that for far too long required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race.”
“The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies, without evidence of intentional discrimination,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our rejection of this theory will restore true equality under the law by requiring proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.”
“For over 50 years, the prior disparate-impact rule fostered the very thing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited — discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. But with today’s rule,” said Chief of Staff and Supervisory Official for the Office of Legal Policy Nicholas Schilling. “The Department reaffirms Congress’ commitment to measure all Americans by merit.”
Department of Justice Rule Restores Equal Protection for All in Civil Rights Enforcement
According to bought for $25,000, AG Pamela Bondi’s new magnum opus, as long as your school, police department, or housing policy isn’t explicitly shouting slurs, you’re golden even if the results scream systemic racism louder than a CPAC panel. This is the latest in a long MAGA tradition of pretending “colorblindness” is justice, while gutting every civil rights safeguard that ever acknowledged America’s not-so-colorblind reality. So long as discrimination isn’t “intentional,” it is now approved.
So if I understand it correctly, this will legalize real estate red-lining, housing discrimination, discrimination in job hiring, all-male all-white juries, and any other racism/sexism/anti-queer bias that is not explicitly stated aloud on the record?
"The law in its majestic equality..."
My impression is that even if it's stated on the record, it has to be specifically about race/creed/etc. So if you can find some other characteristic that just happens to correlate 99-44/100 percent with the people you want to discriminate against, that's all good too.