Executive Order Seeks To Eliminate Disparate Impact Discrimination Claims

On April 23, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” which aims to “eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.” The order seeks to alter the implementation of a number of federal antidiscrimination laws, including those focusing on employment discrimination.

Unlike a disparate treatment claim, in which an individual employee alleges she was treated differently from other workers because she was a member of a protected class, disparate impact discrimination involves facially neutral employment policies or practices that disproportionately impact members of a protected class. The Supreme Court first recognized disparate impact discrimination in Griggs v. Duke Power Co., 401 U.S. 424 (1971), when it found that the requirement to pass an aptitude test and