00:00Thank you, Ms. Stillen. Give your opening statement.
00:03Good afternoon.
00:05Good afternoon, Chairman Schmidt, Ranking Member Welch, and other distinguished members of the subcommittee.
00:10I am honored to testify on ending illegal racial discrimination and preferences through vigorous enforcement of our federal civil rights laws.
00:18I look forward to working with all of you to ensure that we successfully dismantle all forms of invidious racial discrimination from our society.
00:27On January 21st, President Trump signed Executive Order 14173, titled Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.
00:38The executive order stated that race and sex-based preferences, under the guise of so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion, violate the text and spirit of our long-standing federal civil rights laws.
00:50DEI initiatives reflect a set of practices that unlawfully discriminate against, classify, exclude from participation, or deny benefits to individuals based on race, sex, or other prohibited characteristics.
01:05The order announced that it is the policy of the United States to protect the civil rights of all Americans against illegal DEI initiatives.
01:13Enforcement of that policy is now delegated to me.
01:16Just last week, I reached the milestone of my first 100 days in office, and under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, we have been busy implementing President Trump's bold agenda for ending illegal DEI for all Americans.
01:30I will highlight some of our work for you today.
01:32Here are some of the ways we have taken steps to end DEI in education.
01:36First, as a result of multifaceted investigations into illegal DEI-based discrimination, harassment, and abuse at major so-called elite universities and colleges, the division is now in discussions with many educational institutions to end all unlawful DEI programs throughout these schools, including in their law, medical, nursing, and other specialty disciplines.
02:01Second, we are actively investigating several prominent colleges and universities regarding rampant anti-Semitism, resulting in discussions aimed at ending anti-Semitic abuse on college campuses nationwide.
02:15Third, starting in April, we open investigations into 50 major universities, 16 top law schools, and 7 medical schools by sending letters requesting any changes to admissions processes post-Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
02:29We are also investigating racially discriminatory admissions practices at selective public high schools.
02:36Fourth, we are engaged in several lawsuits and investigations into Title IX discrimination against the rights and safety of women and girls in classrooms, athletic fields, dormitories, and other facilities.
02:49As a result of our efforts, several institutions have reversed course already.
02:53Fifth, we are investigating the University of California for its race and sex-based discriminatory hiring practices under UC's 2030 Capacity Plan.
03:05The Civil Rights Division has also acted in various employment-related matters.
03:10First, we are investigating Minnesota's hiring and employment practices.
03:14State policies appear to require agencies to engage in illegal race and sex-based hiring in violation of Title VII.
03:21Second, we are investigating the Hennepin County Attorney's Office policy that requires race-based decision-making and plea agreements.
03:30The investigation is ongoing, though that office has refused to cooperate with our investigation.
03:36Third, we're investigating Rhode Island regarding its affirmative action plan that sets race-based hiring goals across its government.
03:43In light of Rhode Island's refusal to cooperate, we're assessing our next steps under Title VII.
03:55This is just a small fraction of the extensive portfolio of actions we have taken toward ending DEI in my first 100 days in office.
04:04Every day, my team assesses new opportunities to combat invidious racial discrimination.
04:09From diligently pursuing investigations to drafting and filing federal civil rights lawsuits,
04:15the Civil Rights Division strives to protect the civil rights of all Americans against illegal DEI initiatives.
04:21In his famous dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that,
04:27The law regards man as man and takes no account of his surrounding or of his color when his civil rights are guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.
04:38Nearly 130 years later, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson echoed this sentiment in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services,
04:47writing that the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination against any individual because of such individuals' race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
04:58While the division's jurisdiction is governed by statute, we work closely with the chair of the EEOC and heads of other executive branch agencies
05:06to combat illegal DEI initiatives and to uphold the civil rights of all Americans.
05:11With these efforts underway, Senators, the goal is clear.
05:16Either DEI will end on its own or we will kill it.
05:22I look forward to exploring ways to bolster the division's enforcement authority
05:26so that we can completely root out discrimination in all its forms.
