The Department of Justice has dismissed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) lawsuits brought against various police and fire departments across the country under the Biden administration, which deemed aptitude tests in certain cases as discriminatory.
The lawsuits, which the DOJ said did not show evidence of intentional discrimination, were filed in efforts to require race-based hiring after statistical disparities between applicants of different races and genders.
‘American communities deserve firefighters and police officers to be chosen for their skill and dedication to public safety – not to meet DEI quotas,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
Typically acknowledged in the proposed consent decrees, the departments used neutral selection tools, such as credit checks, exams and physical exercises, to choose candidates for the open positions, and White men tended to score or perform better.
For example, a case filed in October against the City of Durham (North Carolina), alleged ‘unintentional’ discrimination against Black applicants because they did not pass the written test with a score of 70% or better as often as White candidates did, which resulted in fewer Black employees.
The complaint proposed getting rid of the neutral written test and ‘back pay and/or preferential hiring to Black candidates who were not hired because of the written exam’ as solutions. The cost would have been around $980,000 in monetary relief, according to the case.
In a different case filed against Maryland State Police in October 2024, it was suggested that the agency not use its current selection tools, which consisted of a written test with a score of 70% or better and a physical test that involved push-ups, sit-ups, a flexibility reach, a trigger pull and a 1.5-mile run.
‘Because Black applicants passed the test less often than White applicants and because women passed the physical test less often than men, the Civil Rights Division concluded that Maryland was illegally discriminating against Black applicants and women,’ the case said.
The suggested changes involved ditching the prior selection tools and providing a total of $2.75 million in monetary relief to Black candidates who were not hired because of written test results and women who were not hired because of physical test results.
The DOJ said similar cases were also brought against the cities of South Bend, Indiana, and Cobb County in Georgia.
Cases dismissed on Wednesday marked ‘an early step toward eradicating illegal DEI preferences across the government and in the private sector,’ the DOJ said.