by Emmanuel Samonte Tipon, Esq.
“Nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.” – U.S. Constitution, 14th Amendment.
DEI means “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
It was a program sponsored by the Biden administration into all aspects of the Federal government by “Affirmatively advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of our Government.”
Executive Order 13985 Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.
Briefly, it is “affirmative action”. It is the opposite of meritocracy, where federal employment practices “reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work,” as pointed out in President Trump’s Executive Order.
The Trump administration ended DEI on January 20, 2025 with an Executive Order titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”.
The Executive Order denounced the Biden Administration, saying that it “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.
This was a concerted effort stemming from President Biden’s first day in office, when he issued Executive Order 13985.
“Pursuant to Executive Order 13985 and follow-on orders, nearly every Federal agency and entity submitted “Equity Action Plans” to detail the ways that they have furthered DEIs infiltration of the Federal Government.
The public release of these plans demonstrated immense public waste and shameful discrimination. That ends today.
Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great.
Section 2 of President Trump’s Executive Order provides:
(a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.
To carry out this directive, the Director of OPM, with the assistance of the Attorney General as requested, shall review and revise, as appropriate, all existing Federal employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs to comply with this order.
Federal employment practices, including Federal employee performance reviews, shall reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and shall not under any circumstances consider DEI or DEIA factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements.”
Those dealing with the federal government – contractors and grantees of federal funds – who had provided DEI training will now have to reverse course if they wish to continue dealing with the federal government.
Singapore And The Philippines
Singapore is a prime example of a government based on meritocracy. The Philippines is a prime example of a government based on “palakasan.”
DEI is akin to what Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay advocated when he said: “Those who have less in life should have more in law.” It is a nice thing to hear. But it denies the equal protection of the laws.
Affirmative Action Is Wrong
In the field of school admissions where the equal protection of the laws has been raised as an issue, the Supreme Court held that school admissions which take race or ethnic origin into consideration denies the equal protection of the laws. Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, No. 20-1199, June 29, 2023.
The Court discussed the origins of the Fourteenth Amendment thus:
“Proposed by Congress and ratified by the States in the wake of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment provides that no State shall “deny to any person . . . the equal protection of the laws.”
Proponents of the Equal Protection Clause described its “foundation[al] principle” as “not permit[ing] any distinctions of law based on race or color.”
Any “law which operates upon one man,” they maintained, should “operate equally upon all.”
Accordingly, as this Court’s early decisions interpreting the Equal Protection Clause explained, the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed “that the law in the States shall be the same for the black as for the white; that all persons, whether colored or white, shall stand equal before the laws of the States.”
“Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it. Accordingly, the Court has held that the Equal Protection Clause applies
“without regard to any differences of race, of color, or of nationality”—
it is “universal in [its] application.” Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356,
369.”
The Court pointed out that “Many universities have for too long wrongly concluded that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned, but the color of their skin. This Nation’s constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”
Private Companies Complying
According to Forbes magazine, “several American embassies urged foreign contractors to comply with Trump’s anti-DEI orders.”
For instance, Forbes reported that “ United Health Group removed webpages dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion and instead adopted language like ‘culture of belonging.”
Conclusion
Federal employment practices, union contracts, and training policies or programs must comply with President Trump’s Executive Order. Meritocracy lives.
ATTY. EMMANUEL S. TIPON was a Fulbright and Smith-Mundt scholar to Yale Law School where he was awarded a Master of Laws degree specializing in Constitutional Law. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines. He placed third in the 1955 bar examinations. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, New York, and the Philippines. He practices federal law, with emphasis on constitutional issues, immigration law, and appellate federal criminal defense. He was the Dean and a Professor of Law of the College of Law, Northwestern University, Philippines. He has written law books and legal articles for the world’s most prestigious legal publishers including Thomson West and Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co. and writes columns for newspapers. He wrote the case notes and annotations for the entire Immigration and Nationality Act published by The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co. and Bancroft-Whitney Co. (now Thomson Reuters). He wrote the best-seller “Winning by Knowing Your Election Laws.” Atty. Tipon was born in Laoag City, Philippines. Cell Phone (808) 225-2645. E-Mail: attorneytipon@gmail.com filamlaw@yahoo.com. Website: https://www.tiponimmigrationguide.com
The information provided in this article is for general information only. It is not legal advice. Publication of this information is not intended to create, and receipt by you or reading by you does not establish or constitute an attorney-client relationship.
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