U.S. Attorney General Warns Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives May Violate Civil Rights Legislation
The US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has issued a new guidance to federal agencies and recipients of federal funding, warning against preferential treatment and segregation in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The memo, issued on August 1, 2025, emphasizes the need for strict adherence to federal civil rights laws.
The guidance reiterates that any practice or program funded by the government cannot use race, sex, or other protected traits as a basis for candidate selection, eligibility criteria, or program participation in ways that exclude or discriminate, regardless of the program’s labels or intentions.
The memo addresses sex-based distinctions, warning against using gender identity to allocate access to single-sex facilities or sporting events, as it may lead to unlawful segregation. Federally funded institutions are urged to affirm sex-based boundaries based on biological differences to avoid creating a hostile environment under Title VII and breaching Title IX protections for women in education.
Training programs that stereotype or exclude individuals based on race or sex may create a hostile environment and breach Title VI or VII. The guidance quotes the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard, which struck down the use of race-based affirmative action in higher education.
The memo warns against race-exclusive scholarships, hiring policies, and promotion policies that prioritize underrepresented groups over equally qualified applicants. Entities are urged to review all programs, policies, and partnerships to ensure compliance with federal law, and discontinue any practices that discriminate on the basis of a protected status.
Key requirements include prohibiting race-conscious or sex-conscious selection practices, mandating that programs focus solely on merit-based, nondiscriminatory metrics like skills or performance outcomes, and ensuring training and participation opportunities are open to all, without exclusion or segregation by protected characteristics.
The guidance also warns against using demographic proxies, such as requiring cultural competence or lived experience, in job applications. The memo affirms protections for individuals who object to DEI policies they believe to be unlawful, suggesting that retaliation against such individuals may also constitute a breach of federal law.
The guidance signals a willingness by the Department of Justice to investigate and potentially sanction DEI-related practices that it deems discriminatory, even if those practices are presented as advancing inclusion or redressing inequality. The memo outlines non-binding best practices, including ensuring programs are open to all qualified individuals, replacing demographic diversity quotas with merit-based criteria, and avoiding using demographic goals as the basis for selection.
The guidance urges all recipients of federal funds, including educational institutions, state and local governments, and public and private employers, to review their programs to ensure they do not cross legal lines. The guidance declares that the federal government will not stand by while recipients of federal funds engage in discrimination.
Segregation of facilities or programs by race or sex is cautioned against, as it generally violates federal law, regardless of the stated goal. The guidance states that indirect forms of discrimination are unlawful if they were selected because they correlate with, replicate, or are used as substitutes for protected characteristics or were implemented with the intent to advantage or disadvantage individuals.
In summary, federal agencies and funded entities must adhere strictly to federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on protected classifications such as race and sex when designing or implementing DEI initiatives, ensuring selection and participation are race and sex neutral, and avoiding practices that could be deemed discriminatory proxies or exclusions.
- The guidance issued by the US Attorney General on August 1, 2025, emphasizes that any federal policy-and-legislation related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives must avoid practices or programs that use race, sex, or other protected traits as a basis for candidate selection, eligibility criteria, or program participation in ways that exclude or discriminate.
- Entities receiving federal funds are warned against utilizing policies or partnerships that prioritize underrepresented groups over equally qualified applicants, as this could lead to breaches of federal law, such as Title VI or Title VII, and may be subject to investigation by the Department of Justice.
