President Trump has taken steps to nullify a key component to the Civil Rights Act as he works to remove diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies from the federal government. 

One of the executive orders issued Wednesday, dubbed Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy, would dismantle disparate impact liability — a legal theory codified in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that holds agencies accountable for practices that have an outsized discriminatory effect on protected groups, even when there is no intent to discriminate. 

The theory allows a plaintiff to sue without fulfilling the burden of demonstrating intentional bias by pointing to practices that disproportionately affect protected groups. Some of these practices include educational requirements, criminal history policies and even physical fitness. 

But conservatives have long argued disparate impact punishes employers. It’s an argument Trump’s latest action echoes. 

Trump describes disparate impact liability as part of a “pernicious movement” that endangers the “bedrock principle” that all American citizens are treated equally. 

“Disparate-impact liability all but requires individuals and businesses to consider race and engage in racial balancing to avoid potentially crippling legal liability,” the order reads. “It not only undermines our national values, but also runs contrary to equal protection under the law and, therefore, violates our Constitution.”

The memo adds that disparate impact liability has, in some cases, made it impossible for employers to “use bona fide job-oriented evaluations when recruiting.”

“Because of disparate-impact liability, employers cannot act in the best interests of the job applicant, the employer, and the American public,” Trump wrote in the order.

The president’s executive actions also direct federal agencies to identify and roll back regulations related to disparate impact and review all current lawsuits, investigations and consent decrees currently based on disparate impact claims. It also calls for departments to work with the attorney general and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to change the interpretation of Title VI and Title VII. 

The order falls in line with Trump’s attempts to create a “colorblind” society based on “meritocracy.”

During his inauguration speech, the president vowed to “forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.”

Just two days later, he signed an executive order to restore “merit-based opportunity” to federal agencies. 

But civil rights leaders have pushed back on the administration’s meritocracy-based arguments, saying it overlooks systemic biases that leave little room for people of color, LGBTQ people, women and people with disabilities to access resources and opportunities.  

Now, civil rights groups are already vowing to fight back against Trump’s latest order. 

Fatima Gross Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, accused the White House of trying to rollback decades of protection in an effort “to clear a path for a government ruled not by and for the people, but by and for one man.”

“This order is part of Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle our freedoms and roll back our rights,” Graves said in a statement. “He hates that civil rights laws give us the power to stand up to bullies like him.”

“But a president does not have the power to take away core civil rights protections from the people of this country with a flick of his wrist,” she added.