The Trump Administration has said that it is dropping lawsuits targeting hiring tests for police officers and firefighters.
The U.S. Justice Department had previously alleged that these tests were discriminatory.
The department said the move was part of a broader push by President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI (Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion) policies.
It’s the latest effort by the administration to curtail civil rights actions brought under his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.
“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 in a statement.
It was not immediately clear how many cases were dropped.
Chad Mizelle, a senior Justice Department official, posted on X that the lawsuits involved towns and cities in North Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, and Indiana.
One case the department dropped, brought against Durham, North Carolina, alleged that the city’s fire department used a written test that disproportionately excluded Black applicants.
Trump-appointed officials said the cases did not allege intentional discrimination, but rather that the exams created “statistical disparities” in hiring of racial minorities or women.
Trump has issued a series of orders barring DEI policies inside the federal government and seeking to curtail similar practices in other parts of U.S. society.
Trump and his allies have alleged that the policies fixate on characteristics such as race and gender at the expense of individual merit.
Advocates for DEI said the policies are necessary to address racial disparities and open opportunity for groups that have traditionally been underrepresented at senior levels in the government and at major corporations.
In the Durham, North Carolina case, the Biden administration reached a settlement last year that required the city to use a different screening test and pay nearly $1 million to applicants who were disqualified.
The Trump administration previously suspended ongoing litigation from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division left over from Biden’s tenure.
