Rescinding Portions of U.S. Department of Agriculture Title VI Regulations To Conform More Closely With the Department of Justice’s Regulations To Implement Executive Order 14281
Key claim: USDA is amending its Title VI regulations to eliminate disparate-impact liability, aligning with DOJ regulations and Executive Order 14281.
Abstract
(Rule · Agriculture Department) By this rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) amends its regulations implementing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (7 CFR part 15) to eliminate disparate-impact liability. These amendments align USDA’s regulations with the original public meaning of this statute, avoid constitutional concerns, reduce compliance costs, and serve the public interest. In addition, these revisions conform to Executive Order 14281.
Why this matters
This action extends the interagency rollback of Title VI disparate-impact liability to USDA-assisted programs, which reach a broad range of recipients including state agriculture departments, land-grant universities, SNAP and school-nutrition administrators, and rural development grantees. Under the new framework, complainants alleging discrimination in USDA-funded programs must demonstrate intentional discrimination rather than disparate effect, narrowing the enforcement pathway that had long been used to challenge facially neutral practices with disproportionate impacts on racial minorities and other protected groups. The rule is contested: proponents argue it aligns regulations with the statutory text and Supreme Court precedent, while civil rights advocates argue it removes a core enforcement tool for addressing systemic discrimination.