Justice Department ends 44-year consent decree on civil service exams

UPI

15 hours ago

Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The Justice Department announced Monday its Civil Rights Division would end a decades-old consent decree, which banned the federal government from using civil service exams to hire qualified candidates.
Luevano v. Director, Office of Personnel Management, a 1979 lawsuit filed during the Carter administration, accused the federal government's Professional and Administrative Career Examination -- or PACE -- of discriminating against Black and Hispanic applicants.
A consent decree was entered in 1981, making civil service exams obsolete for the next 44 years. In March, the Trump administration filed a motion to terminate it.
"For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit -- not race."
Angel Luevano, who filed the case more than forty years ago, said attorneys for both sides met with the U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia last week to resolve the issue.
"The Decree has had its usefulness and a tremendous effect on the country," Luevano said. "Millions of minorities and women hold jobs because of that class action lawsuit. It wasn't DEI. It didn't just benefit minorities and women. The alternative Outstanding Scholar Program ... was actually used 70% by Whites."
Luevano said he took the PACE exam, before filing the lawsuit, to get into a federal job and achieved a passing grade of 80, but did not get referred to federal openings because only those with 100 on their tests got jobs.
"I'm extremely proud of the effect that it has had on federal hires and getting minorities and women into federal jobs," he added. "It affected my decision to join, it was the key for me to join federal civil rights compliance in the Labor Department."
On Monday, the Justice Department called the federal government's hiring practices over the last four decades "flawed and outdated theories of diversity, equity and inclusion."
"It's simple, competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less," said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia. "It's about time people are judged, not by their identity, but instead 'by the content of their character.'"