Attorney General Pam Bondi ended federal lawsuits that the Biden administration had filed against local police and fire departments over their merit-based hiring policies.

Under the Biden administration, the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights sued local first responders for prioritizing merit in hiring rather than making race-based decisions.

“Despite no evidence of intentional discrimination—only statistical disparities—the prior administration branded the aptitude tests at issue in these cases as discriminatory to advance a DEI agenda,” the DOJ said in a news release.

“And it sought to coerce cities into conducting DEI-based hiring in response and spending millions of dollars in taxpayer funds for payouts to previous applicants who had scored lower on the tests, regardless of qualifications,” the news release added.

President Donald Trump signed executive orders ending Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies within the federal government. Bondi’s decision this week marks the latest development in the ongoing effort to roll back DEI initiatives under the new administration.

Bondi’s office stated that DEI policies pose a threat to public safety and indicated that dismissing the cases represents an “early step toward eradicating illegal DEI preferences across the government and in the private sector.”

“American communities deserve firefighters and police officers to be chosen for their skill and dedication to public safety – not to meet DEI quotas,” Bondi said.

The proposed consent decrees typically acknowledged that the departments used neutral selection criteria, such as credit checks, written exams, and physical fitness tests, to evaluate candidates for open positions. However, White men tended to achieve higher scores or perform better on these assessments.

For instance, a lawsuit filed in October against the City of Durham, North Carolina, alleged “unintentional” discrimination against Black applicants, citing that they failed to meet the required 70% passing score on the written exam at a lower rate than White candidates, resulting in fewer Black hires.