The Trump administration is realizing the promise in the Declaration and reconciling the sacrifice of the Civil War by enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment. This strikes a blow against DEI, ensuring “equal justice under law.”
The Constitution and the Civil Rights Act were rendered insufficient when federal agencies and liberal judges—often under pressure from activists and political appointees—insisted on manipulating outcomes rather than following the law.
Eric Holder once stated that when it comes to race, America is a “nation of cowards.” This was because if one attempted an honest conversation about identity politics, they were demonized as racist. This false narrative silenced dissent and harmed careers.
Restoring a merit-based, colorblind republic is not a retreat—it is a renewal. It is the fulfillment of the American tradition that measures citizens by the “content of their character” and their contributions, not by immutable characteristics designed to divide people who do not wish to be divided.
The law was always there. What was missing was leadership.
Attorney General Pam Bondi and the brilliant Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon have put President Trump’s vision into practice. America is witnessing the return of a Civil Rights Division anchored not in ideology, but in the law.
Title VII was crafted to end discrimination and secure individual rights; however, it was twisted into a tool for bureaucrats to impose race-conscious mandates. The DEI movement decried equal opportunity in favor of forced equal outcomes under the code word “equality.” Their legal vehicle of choice was disparate impact theory, where perceived unintentional discrimination based on statistics alone could carry the day in court.
This resulted in disparate treatment, or intentional discrimination.
Achievement and merit are not limited or determined by one’s race or any other immutable characteristic. After all, achievement has never belonged to one race or one group. It is the product of grit, discipline, perseverance, skills, and knowledge.
Under President Trump, the Department of Justice has returned to first principles. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, leading the Civil Rights Division, has acted with defining clarity: the federal government will defend the rights of all Americans—not just politically favored categories.
Her announcement of new guidelines requiring adherence to the actual text of the Constitution and civil rights laws led to the resignation of roughly 200 DOJ lawyers. Their departure, she noted pointedly, speaks volumes:
“They quit, but like a bad ex, many of them keep talking about us, and saying they want us back, only on their same old toxic terms. No thanks! We’re going to keep working for ALL Americans!”
This is what the end of DEI looks like—not rhetoric, but action.
For years, “disparate impact” regulations pressured employers and public institutions to alter race-neutral policies if statistical outcomes displeased the federal, state, or municipal government.
Dhillon’s Dec. 9 statement dismantled that regime: “The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies without evidence of intentional discrimination. Our rejection of this theory will restore true equality under the law by requiring proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.”
This is a constitutional course correction decades overdue. Consider consent decrees — federal agreements that imposed race-conscious hiring and promotion rules on police, fire, and municipal departments nationwide.
Many were effectively backdoor quotas that evaded strict scrutiny and punished merit. Cities settled to avoid costly litigation or to achieve political ends they could not win outright in court.
These consent decrees frequently demanded the very racial preferences Title VII forbids.
Rolling them back is not radical. It is necessary. As the Supreme Court emphasized in Ricci v. DeStefano (2009), government cannot discard merit-based results simply because politically favored groups perform differently.
SCOTUS reaffirmed in the 2023 Harvard decision that race-based preferences violate the bedrock principle that every individual deserves equal protection.
President Trump’s Justice Department is simply aligning federal practice with the law.
Mike Davis of the Article III Project captured the broader reality: “Too many young Americans are indoctrinated by Marxists in the failed government-school monopoly. Trump is ending this subversion by cutting off DEI and other Marxist funding, and empowering parents with real school choice.”
The best way to increase diversity is to “teach a man to fish”—not through veiled quotas, but through quality education: school choice, opportunity scholarships, and holding public schools accountable.
The Constitution doesn’t divide us. DEI did. Ending it is how we rebuild one nation—with one standard of justice for all.
Frank Ricci was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Ricci v Destefano. He retired as a Battalion Chief in New Haven, Conn. He has testified before Congress and is the author of the book Command Presence.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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