President Trump promulgated an executive order providing in pertinent part that:
I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.
Agencies is not a defined term in the order but the accompanying fact sheet claims that the order "terminates 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' (DEI) discrimination in the federal workforce, and in federal contracting and spending.
The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 created 12 USC § 5452, which provides in subsection (a)(1)(A) that:
Except as provided in subparagraph (B), not later than 6 months after July 21, 2010, each agency shall establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion that shall be responsible for all matters of the agency relating to diversity in management, employment, and business activities.
Subparagraph (B) refers to a comparable requirement applicable to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
12 USC § 5452(g)(1) defines the term agency for this purpose to include "A) the Departmental Offices of the Department of the Treasury; (B) the Corporation; (C) the Federal Housing Finance Agency; (D) each of the Federal reserve banks; (E) the Board; (F) the National Credit Union Administration; (G) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; (H) the Commission; and (I) the Bureau."
Section 5452 lays out extensive requirements for the mandated Offices, including specified steps the agencies must take to "seek diversity in the workforce," providing annual reports to Congress on matters such as "the successes achieved and challenges faced by the agency in operating minority and women outreach programs," and the like.
The conflict with Trump's order seems obvious.
But Trump's DEI order includes a provision that "Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof ...." It seems that this saving provision would preserve the OMWIs at the Dodd-Frank regulated financial agencies.
Interestingly, as of January 24th, the SEC has scrubbed its DEI page but its OMWI page remains up.