Federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs were largely dismantled in January 2025, when two executive orders revoked the Biden-era DEI directives, closed agency DEI offices, and ended affirmative action requirements for federal contractors. Statutory protections that predate those programs — merit hiring rules, Title VI, disability and veterans’ preferences, and the 8(a) small business program — remain in force, though several are being enforced differently. Here is where things stand.
What the January 2025 Executive Orders Did
On January 20, 2025, Executive Orders 13985, 14091, and 14035, which had built the federal DEI framework between 2021 and 2023, were formally revoked.1The White House. Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions The same day, Executive Order 14151 ordered every agency head to terminate all DEI and DEIA offices, positions, equity action plans, equity-related grants and contracts, and DEI performance requirements for employees, contractors, and grantees. Chief Diversity Officer positions were specifically named for elimination.2The White House. Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
Executive Order 14173, signed the next day, went further. It revoked Executive Order 11246, the 1965 directive that had required affirmative action by federal contractors for six decades. It directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to stop holding contractors responsible for affirmative action or workforce balancing. And it ordered the Office of Management and Budget to strip DEI references out of federal acquisition, contracting, grants, and financial assistance procedures.3The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
How Agency DEI Offices Were Closed
The Office of Personnel Management issued implementation guidance on January 21, 2025, and the deadlines were tight. By 5:00 p.m. on January 22, agencies had to place all DEIA office employees on paid administrative leave, take down external-facing DEIA websites and social media accounts, cancel DEIA training, and terminate DEIA contractors. Agencies also had to send an internal notice asking employees to report any efforts to disguise DEI work under different names.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders
By January 23, each agency had to give OPM a complete list of its DEIA offices and employees as of November 5, 2024, along with a list of DEIA-related contracts. By January 31, agencies had to submit written plans for a reduction-in-force covering DEIA staff and a list of any position descriptions that had been rewritten after November 5, 2024, to hide their connection to DEI. OPM has since confirmed that its previously issued DEIA guidance should be considered rescinded.5U.S. Office of Personnel Management. OPM Published Memos
Rules That Still Govern Federal Hiring
Closing DEI offices did not leave federal hiring without guardrails. The Merit System Principles at 5 U.S.C. § 2301 are statutory, not policy. They require that federal recruitment draw from qualified individuals across all segments of society and that hiring be based on ability, knowledge, and skills after fair and open competition guaranteeing equal opportunity. No executive order can override them.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 2301 – Merit System Principles
Two hiring authorities that had served diversity goals also survive because they rest on statute and regulation. Schedule A lets agencies appoint individuals with severe physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities through a streamlined process that bypasses the usual vacancy announcement track. Eligible candidates need a proof-of-disability letter from a doctor, licensed medical professional, vocational rehabilitation specialist, or government disability benefits agency.7USAJOBS Help Center. Individuals with Disabilities Veterans’ preference, which adds five or ten points to a qualifying veteran’s examination score depending on service-connected disability status, is codified in federal statute and unchanged.8U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Vet Guide for HR Professionals
What Changed for Federal Contractors
The revocation of Executive Order 11246 removed the legal basis for OFCCP’s traditional affirmative action enforcement. OFCCP has stopped holding contractors accountable for affirmative action plans or workforce balancing tied to race and gender. Two other authorities remain intact. Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, covering workers with disabilities, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), covering veterans, are statutory obligations that survive. OFCCP has resumed compliance activity under both, though the affirmative action plan certification portal remains closed while systems are updated.9U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
The Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program is still operational but has been restructured. On January 22, 2026, the SBA issued guidance declaring any race-based presumption of social disadvantage unconstitutional and directing that the program be administered in a race-neutral manner. No applicant can be denied admission or given a preference based solely on race, and social disadvantage narratives based on racial identity are no longer accepted. New criteria direct SBA staff to consider whether an applicant was harmed by DEI or affirmative action policies, such as race-based quotas or hiring targets, as a potential basis for social disadvantage. The changes apply to new applicants and to current participants, who face possible suspension or termination under the revised standards.10U.S. Small Business Administration. SBA Issues Clarifying Guidance That Race-Based Discrimination is Not Tolerated in 8(a) Program
The government-wide contracting goal for Small Disadvantaged Businesses, which the Biden administration had set at 15%, was reset for fiscal year 2025 to the statutory floor of 5%.11Congressional Research Service. Federal Small Business Contracting Goals
The New Certification Requirement
Executive Order 14173 added a term that reaches beyond the federal workforce. Every federal contract and grant award must now include a provision requiring the recipient to certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate federal anti-discrimination laws. Recipients also have to agree that compliance with anti-discrimination laws is material to the government’s payment decisions. That materiality language means a false certification could trigger liability under the False Claims Act, extending the anti-DEI mandate into private organizations that do business with the government.3The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity
What Changed for Grant Recipients
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is statutory and remains in effect. Its core rule stands: no person can be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or discriminated against under any program receiving federal financial assistance on the basis of race, color, or national origin.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC Chapter 21, Subchapter V – Federally Assisted Programs
Enforcement, though, has narrowed. In late 2025 the Department of Justice began rescinding portions of its Title VI regulations that addressed disparate-impact liability, the theory that allowed enforcement against facially neutral practices producing disproportionate effects on protected groups without proof of intent. DOJ determined it would eliminate that theory from its Title VI regulations as exceeding what the statute requires.13Federal Register. Rescinding Portions of Department of Justice Title VI Regulations Intentional discrimination by grant recipients is still prohibited. Enforcement against unintentional disparate outcomes is winding down. Grant recipients are also subject to the same DEI certification requirement contractors face under Executive Order 14173.
Where the Court Challenges Stand
Multiple lawsuits were filed against Executive Orders 14151 and 14173. Plaintiffs argued the orders were unconstitutionally vague and that the certification requirement violated the First Amendment by pressuring organizations to abandon lawful diversity programs. A federal district court granted a preliminary injunction blocking portions of the orders.
That injunction did not hold. On February 7, 2026, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated it. The appellate court found plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on their due process vagueness challenge or their First Amendment challenge to the certification requirement, and that they lacked standing to challenge the enforcement threat provisions. As of mid-2026 the executive orders stand without judicial restraint.
The Statutory Floor That Remains
Executive orders can be signed, revoked, and replaced by each new administration. Statutes require an act of Congress to change. The pieces of the federal equal-opportunity architecture that survive the 2025 reversal are the ones written into law:
- The Merit System Principles at 5 U.S.C. § 2301, governing all federal hiring.
- Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which still prohibits intentional discrimination by federal fund recipients even as disparate-impact enforcement is being rolled back.
- Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA, which still require federal contractors to take affirmative action for workers with disabilities and qualified veterans.
- The 8(a) Business Development Program under 15 U.S.C. § 637, operational but now administered without race-based presumptions of social disadvantage.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 637 – Additional Powers
- Schedule A hiring and veterans’ preference, both grounded in statutory and regulatory authority.
- The Minority Business Development Agency, permanently authorized by the Minority Business Development Act of 2021, though its funding and scope remain subject to appropriations and executive branch policy direction.15Minority Business Development Agency. About MBDA
The administrative apparatus built between 2021 and 2024 is gone, the enforcement posture has reversed, and the courts have so far declined to block the rollback. The statutory foundations underneath remain, and any future administration could build executive-level programs on top of them again.