Federal Agencies Drop Discrimination Cases After Trump Order Targets 1 Legal Standard
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
Federal Agencies Drop Discrimination Cases After Trump Order Targets 1 Legal Standard
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 5
Summary
Federal agencies have begun abandoning discrimination and civil-rights cases after President Trump ordered them to deprioritize claims based on disparate impact rather than intentional bias.
The shift hit the EEOC's 2024 class action against Sheetz, which alleged the chain's criminal-background checks disproportionately screened out applicants of color; the agency later dropped the case.
Education, housing, trade and justice agencies are also pulling back, though the government has provided no public count of how many investigations or lawsuits have been closed.
Legal advocates say the retreat is creating a generational gap in federal civil-rights enforcement by narrowing scrutiny of policies that can harm minority groups without explicit discriminatory intent.