United States President-elect Donald Trump will look to challenge programs that work to boost diversity at companies and universities once he returns to the top job next month.
He will throw the force of governmental agencies such as the Department of Justice into investigations and bring lawsuits over diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, arguing that they violate anti-discrimination laws.
These plans would take the power of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division against policies designed to benefit those groups, with this Division being created in 1957 to enforce laws stopping discrimination against Black people and other marginalised communities.
Trump had already vowed in a campaign video in July to especially direct the Justice Department to pursue civil rights investigations into universities, saying they had been captured by the “radical left”.
His commitment to this plan was reaffirmed on Monday local time when he brought in lawyer Harmeet Dhillon as his choice as an assistant attorney-general, saying that her career included “suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers.”
Even in situations where the Justice Department does not have direct enforcement authority, the government could still weigh in on existing cases to argue that its interpretation of civil rights laws aligns with others challenging DEI policies.
Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, a conservative advocacy group who has previously provided Trump with legal advice, says that "DEI is unlawful discrimination".
“It's illegal for the government to do it. It's illegal for universities to do it. And it's illegal for companies to do it.”