Issue a rule stating Title VI has no disparate impact standard

Done

Printed page 335 11. Department of Education

“In addition to rescinding the policy and any related guidance, the next Secretary should work with the next Attorney General on a regulation that would clarify current regulations to state that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act does not include a disparate impact standard.”

What has happened

Jul 24, 2026 Done
ED published a final rule, effective the same day, rescinding the disparate-impact provisions of its Title VI regulations at 34 CFR part 100 (RIN 1870-AA20). It states that the Department's Title VI regulations "prohibit intentional discrimination and do not prohibit conduct or activities that have an unintentional disparate impact", and that the Department "will not pursue Title VI disparate-impact liability against its Federal funding recipients". DOJ had amended its own Title VI regulations to the same effect in December 2025.
- ED final rule: Rescinding Portions of the Department of Education Title VI Regulations To Align With the Statutory Text and Conform to Executive Order 14281
  Primary Executive branch Jul 24, 2026
- ED press release: U.S. Department of Education Removes Disparate-Impact from Title VI Regulations
  Primary Executive branch Jul 23, 2026
Apr 23, 2025 Attempted
Executive Order 14281 revoked the presidential approvals underpinning DOJ's Title VI disparate-impact regulations and, in sec. 5(a), directed the Attorney General - who coordinates Title VI regulations government-wide under Executive Order 12250 - to "initiate appropriate action to repeal or amend the implementing regulations for Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for all agencies to the extent they contemplate disparate-impact liability". That is the Secretary-and-Attorney-General work the Quote asks for.
- Executive Order 14281 - Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy
  Primary Executive branch Apr 23, 2025

Research log

What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence

Research notes

A companion final rule the day before rescinded the 1979 Guidelines for Eliminating Discrimination and Denial of Services … in Vocational Education Programs, the other place in ED’s rules where the disparate-impact theory sat.
done rather than partial: the Quote asks for a regulation clarifying that Title VI includes no disparate-impact standard, worked out with the Attorney General, and that regulation is in force.

Action: issue
Object: Title VI disparate impact regulation
ID: 847