Am I better informed about reality because I'm evil?

The white-black cognitive test score gap has existed for decades. Am I aware of this fact because I'm bad?

Why do do I try to be well-informed about the white-black cognitive test score gap when everybody else knows that it’s in poor taste to not be ignorant? Well, because the Supreme Court and federal executive branch think the subject is crucial; but they tend to be ignoramuses on the findings of the social sciences over the last 59 years. The New York Times has finally written more than one sentence in response to Trump’s landmark April 23rd executive order telling federal bureaucrats to stop using disparate impact reasoning in civil rights matters:

Trump Seeks to Strip Away Legal Tool Key to Civil Rights Enforcement

President Trump has ordered federal agencies to halt their use of “disparate-impact liability,” which has been used to assess whether policies discriminate against different groups.

By Erica L. Green

Reporting from Washington

May 9, 2025

President Trump has ordered federal agencies to abandon the use of a longstanding legal tool used to root out discrimination against minorities, a move that could defang the nation’s bedrock civil rights law.

In an expansive executive order, Mr. Trump directed the federal government to curtail the use of “disparate-impact liability,” a core tenet used for decades to enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by determining whether policies disproportionately disadvantage certain groups.

The little-noticed order,

Much noticed by me.

issued last month with a spate of others targeting equity policies, was the latest effort in Mr. Trump’s aggressive push to purge the consideration of diversity, equity and inclusion, or D.E.I., from the federal government and every facet of American life.

The directive underscores how Mr. Trump’s crusade to stamp out D.E.I. — a catchall term increasingly used to describe policies that benefit anyone who is not white and male

And thus penalize white males

— is now focused not just on targeting programs and policies that may assist historically marginalized groups, but also on the very law created to protect them….

Civil rights prosecutors say the disparate-impact test is one of their most important tools for uncovering discrimination because it shows how a seemingly neutral policy or law has different outcomes for different demographic groups, revealing inequities.

Lawyers say the test has been crucial in showing how criminal background and credit checks affect employment of Black people, how physical capacity tests inhibit employment opportunities for women, how zoning regulations could violate fair housing laws, and how schools have meted out overly harsh discipline to minority students and children with disabilities.

Over the last decade, major businesses and organizations have settled cases in which the disparate-impact test was applied, resulting in significant policy changes.

One of the largest settlements involved Walmart, which in 2020 agreed to a $20 million settlement in a case brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that claimed the company’s practice of giving physical ability tests to applicants for certain grocery warehouse jobs made it more difficult for women to get the positions.

Walmart warehouse orderfillers routinely lift 50 pounds all day long and sometimes lift 80 pounds. Not surprisingly, more women than men job applicants flunked Walmart’s pre-hiring physical abilities test, that had been designed for Walmart in 2010 by consultants in consultation with the EEOC.

Paywall here.