Trump-aligned legal group fights to restore merit-based federal hiring

FIRST ON FOX — A legal group closely aligned with President Donald Trump is joining a federal court battle in Washington, D.C., to overturn a Carter-era consent decree that bars the government from using merit-based hiring, a resolution that, if overturned, would dissolve one of the most influential civil service decisions of the last 40 years.

The America First Legal Foundation (AFL), a group aligned with Trump, has filed a federal complaint in Washington, D.C., that aims to dismantle what it calls a dated and illegal effort to promote diversity in federal hiring that sidelines more qualified candidates.

“America is missing out on top talent because of an illegal, 44-year-old consent decree,” Nick Barry, senior counsel at AFL, told Fox News Digital. “We must move back to merit-based evaluations. Race and other immutable traits have no place in that process.”

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The lawsuit targets the Luevano consent decree, an agreement that Black and Hispanic plaintiffs struck with the government under President Jimmy Carter in 1981. The settlement ended merit-based hiring practices for federal government agencies and required written tests to be replaced with alternative assessments.

Critics of these alternative assessments, including AFL and the firm Boyden Gray, PLLC, which joined the complaint, argue they are clunky and outdated solutions that illegally promote an unfair system of race-based hiring. 

“We must move back to merit-based evaluations,” Barry added. “Race, color and other immutable characteristics have no place in that evaluation.” 

The Office of Personnel Management had previously asked the court to end the Carter-era system, an effort that AFL and Boyden Gray now join, arguing it violates Supreme Court precedent. 

“Being able to recruit the best and brightest to work in Washington returns dividends for the country by doing more with less,” AFL Vice President Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. “That is what all Americans deserve from their government.”

AFL’s backing could bring new momentum to OPM’s attempt to end these hiring practices in the federal government. But it’s also likely to be met with a fair degree of criticism. 

Though efforts to end or replace the 40-year-old alternative assessment systems aren’t exactly radical, the filing comes as the Trump administration continues to clash with government employees over agency budget cuts and workforce reductions.

The case, if heard in court, could reignite debate across the country over race-conscious hiring practices. 

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America First Legal, though not officially part of the Trump administration, was founded by longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s most vocal advocates for tougher immigration enforcement, dismantling DEI programs and ending affirmative action in public education. Miller stepped down from AFL before rejoining the White House in 2025.

The effort also comes at a time when many federal agencies have struggled to cope with a massive loss of personnel and institutional knowledge due to funding cuts and other orders from DOGE, the quasi-government efficiency agency headed up by billionaire Elon Musk. 

Still, AFL sees its effort as supporting OPM and ending what it argues is a virtually “impossible” standard to create a broadly used merit-based civil service exam. 

“Public service is a public trust,” Epstein said. “Presidential administrations from both parties have long advocated ending unaccountable bureaucracies that fail to do a good turn for the American people.”

Neither OPM nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News’s request for comment on the new court filing or on their views on the existing hiring practices.