President Trump just delivered a knockout blow for meritocracy

President Donald Trump signed a groundbreaking executive order Thursday eliminating the use of disparate impact theory by the feds.

The order “restores the true promise of the Civil Rights Movement—a system that does not differentiate between Americans based on race and where success is determined by individual merit, free from discriminatory practices that prioritize group outcomes over personal achievement,” according to a White House fact-sheet.

.@POTUS signs an executive order eliminating the use of the woke so-called “disparate-impact liability” to ensure equal treatment under the law. pic.twitter.com/rFJw0LYsrW

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 23, 2025

Disparate impact theory says that any disparity must be the result of discrimination, bigotry, and racism of some kind or another.

So for example, if more white people than non-white people pass a firefighter’s exam, then it must be because of racism. Or if more non-white people than white people are pulled over for speeding, that too must be the result of racism and bigotry.

Why is this an issue? Because this theory has been used by left-wing administrations, namely the Obama and Biden administrations, to sue firefighter and police stations and force them to change longstanding, meritocratic policies that worked.

“It has been used to invalidate literacy and numeracy standards for police officers and firemen, cognitive skills and basic knowledge tests for teachers, the use of SATs in college admissions, the use of grades for medical licensing exams, credit-based mortgage lending, the ability to discipline insubordinate students, and criminal background checks for employees and renters,” according to Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute.

“It has been used to eliminate prosecution for a large range of crimes, including shoplifting, turnstile jumping, and resisting arrest; to end police tactics such as proactive stops (otherwise known as stop, question, and frisk); and to purge safety technologies like ShotSpotter and speeding cameras from police departments,” she further noted for City Journal.

The Trumpian Grim Reaper comes for disparate impact theory. My latest for @CityJournal https://t.co/7Z4abjcG4n

— Heather Mac Donald (@HMDatMI) April 24, 2025

With disparate impact theory now officially invalidated by the Trump administration, the Democrat Party has temporarily lost one of its most powerful DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) weapons.

For years the theory has been used “to punish businesses, control hiring, and force unfair racial quotas under the phony guise of ‘civil rights,’” according to Revolver News.

“This was the left’s top-secret weapon — and it was called ‘disparate impact’ — and until now, it’s been holding America back from greatness,” the reporting continues.

Democrats and their media allies are, of course, apoplectic and have begun complaining that Trump is destroying civil rights in America.

“This order is part of Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle our freedoms and roll back our rights,” National Women’s Law Center president and CEO Fatima Goss Graves said in a statement, as reported by The Hill.

“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.

She was partly right though about Trump lacking the power to permanently rid America of disparate impact. While it’s true he can and has now turned off the disparate impact spigot, it can easily be turned right back on by the next Democrat administration.

The reason why is because disparate impact was codified in a 1971 Supreme Court ruling. The good news is that conservatives are hopeful the modern Supreme Court is ready to throw out disparate impact for good.

However, according to Mac Donald, there is another path forward in case the Supreme Court option doesn’t play out: Congress.

“The White House needs to persuade Congress to clarify that civil rights mean freedom from discrimination—not the legitimization of ‘reverse discrimination,’” she noted. “Congress must amend 1960s-era statutes to confirm explicitly their original colorblind intent.”

“Such a process of congressional clarification will trigger a long overdue debate: Is the United States still disfigured by systemic racism that requires the dismantling of meritocratic standards? Or are we ready to live in a nation where we can be confident that the doctor who walks through an emergency room door is there because of his medical expertise, not his race?” she added.

Senior Staff Writer
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.

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