Law Dork on Revocation of Executive Order 11246

Chris Geidner, also known as Law Dork, reports on a Jan. 21, 2025 Executive Order that reversed an executive order from President Lyndon Johnson, designed to implement the 1964 Civil Right Act. LBJ’s Executive Order 11246 built on 25 years of prior enactments going back to FDR. FDR issued Executive Order 8802 to prevent military contractors from discriminating against black people seeking employment.

Combined with legislative enactments, Execuive Order 11246 provided the foundation underlying a sixty-year legacy of federal initiatives designed to combat racial discrimination and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in both governmental and private workplaces. LBJ expanded on FDR’s Executive Order to make it applicable "to every aspect of Federal employment policy and practice.“ President Obama expanded it to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identify. As Chris Geider points out:

There should be nothing controversial about any of this. If certain policies or programs go too far, review them and fix them, but the fundamental basis for and nature of these policies began with the Civil War Amendments and were forged into modern America’s laws in the Civil Rights Era and the time since.

President George H.W. Bush signing
The American with Disabilities Act

It had come to be generally accepted that one should not discriminate against people on the basis of immutable characteristics. Over time, we came to recognize new categories of immutable characteristics.

And then came a backlash. Clearly, we are not, as a nation, united in our conceptions of which characteristics count as immutable. In addition, according to the new Executive Order, the need to combat discrimination of all kinds must be informed by the need "to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work.” 

Okay. I understand that language. That is, I am familiar with the rhetoric of white grievance, according to which different standards apply to so-called “diversity hires.” However, I was surprised to see that new Executive Order targets not only affirmative action and DEI initiatives but also accessibility. It seems that in 2025 we have entered into a world in which people in government think that having a disability is a lifestyle choice.