DOJ Sues Minnesota Over Affirmative Action Hiring Practices: ‘DEI Codified Into Bad State Policy’

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Wednesday that the Justice Department has sued the state of Minnesota over affirmative action-based hiring practices.

“Today, @TheJusticeDept sued Minnesota for using affirmative action to hire for its state agencies. This is discriminatory DEI codified into bad state policy, and the Trump Administration will not stand for it,” Bondi posted on X, sharing a link to the DOJ’s official press release on the matter.

Today, @TheJusticeDept sued Minnesota for using affirmative action to hire for its state agencies.

This is discriminatory DEI codified into bad state policy, and the Trump Administration will not stand for it. https://t.co/NcNHMftLwa

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 14, 2026

“The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit today against the State of Minnesota challenging Minnesota’s requirement that all state agencies implement sex- and race-based affirmative action plans and consider ‘affirmative action goals on all staffing and personnel decisions,'” the release stated. “The State’s affirmative action program directs agencies to engage in employment practices that ‘balance’ the sex and race composition of its workforce with the civilian labor force.”

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota and asserts that Minnesota’s mandatory affirmative action-based hiring practices violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII).

“Because staffing is a zero-sum game, when Minnesota gives preferences to employees or prospective employees on the basis of their race, color, national origin, and sex, it inevitably and necessarily discriminates against other employees or prospective employees because of their race, color, national origin, and sex,” the filing stated, in part.

Bondi addressed the situation in Minnesota, saying that the lawsuit was just one way in which the DOJ was working from different angles to ensure that the state was not undermining federal policies — whether those policies pertained to enforcing immigration law, investigating fraud, or ensuring that federal efforts to dismantle Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives were not being undermined.

“From suing over sanctuary city policies to a wide-ranging fraud investigation, today’s lawsuit is the Department of Justice’s latest effort to bring Minnesota into compliance with federal law,” Bondi explained. “Making hiring decisions based on immutable characteristics like race and sex is simple discrimination, and the Trump Administration has no tolerance for such DEI policies.”

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon — at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — added, “For far too long, courts have allowed employers to discriminate based on race and sex when it is packaged as ‘affirmative action.’ The Supreme Court put an end to using race as a factor in college admissions through its Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision. This case is the next logical step. Title VII protects all people from race and sex discrimination in employment. There is no exception that allows discrimination against employees who aren’t considered ‘underrepresented.'”