April 2025

The National Association of Black Counselors (NABC) strongly condemns President Donald J. Trump's recent executive order, which eliminated disparate-impact liability across federal agencies. This order represents a dangerous rollback of civil rights protections and undermines decades of progress toward racial equity, justice, and accountability in American society.

Disparate-impact liability is a critical legal tool that recognizes how policies and practices, though neutral in language, can result in harmful, discriminatory outcomes for marginalized communities. It has been instrumental in addressing inequality in education, housing, employment, and healthcare. To eliminate this protection is to ignore the reality of systemic discrimination and silence the data that reveal its continued presence.

This executive order does not "restore equality." It rebrands inequity. It does not advance "merit-based" opportunity it denies the structural imbalances that continue to disadvantage Black Americans and other historically excluded groups. Suggesting that fairness can be achieved without acknowledging and addressing outcomes is a fundamental misunderstanding of civil rights law and the purpose of social justice advocacy.

Let us be clear: Equity is not about giving advantages to some; it’s about removing barriers for all. This order seeks to erase those barriers from public view, not from public life. It enables institutions to perpetuate harm without accountability and shifts the burden of proof onto those already bearing the weight of inequality.

As Black mental health professionals, we see the psychological toll of systemic injustice every day. We know that structural racism is not always overt. It is often embedded in the very systems this executive order now seeks to shield from scrutiny.

We call on lawmakers, educators, clinicians, and allies to resist this regressive action and to stand firm in protecting the mechanisms that hold our nation to its promise of equal justice under the law.

NABC will not be silent. We remain committed to equity, accountability, and truth.

Signed,

Dr. M. Nickleson (Dr. Nick) Battle, Jr., LPC (DC/VA), LCPC (MD), CCTP, CCAPT, BC-TMH
President, National Association of Black Counselors (NABC)