1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

The Administration's recent executive order to eliminate disparate impact liability and deprioritize enforcement of civil rights laws protecting against discrimination is a step backwards for equality and justice. Disparate impact is a crucial legal tool to address systemic discrimination and ensure equal opportunity, regardless of race, gender, or other protected characteristics. Removing this protection undermines decades of progress in creating a more equitable society. Disparate impact does not mandate discriminatory practices or racial balancing, as claimed. It simply recognizes that policies can have unintended discriminatory effects, even without overt bias. Allowing employers to ignore disparate impacts enables them to perpetuate long-standing barriers facing underrepresented groups. Focusing solely on intent disregards the realities of systemic inequities. Meritocracy cannot exist when qualified individuals face artificial obstacles due to their race, gender, or background. Disparate impact standards promote true meritocracy by removing unnecessary, discriminatory barriers. They ensure employers actually hire and promote based on merit, not extraneous factors unrelated to job performance. Equality under the law necessitates proactive measures to dismantle systemic discrimination, not just reactive responses to intentional discrimination. Stripping away disparate impact protections is a regressive policy that betrays our nation's commitment to equal opportunity for all. I urge you to reconsider this harmful order and uphold robust enforcement of our civil rights laws.