DOJ opens investigation into Minnesota over hiring practices

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has opened an investigation into Minnesota to determine if the state, including the Minnesota Department of Human Services, has engaged in race and sex-based discrimination in its hiring practices. 

“Our investigation is based on information that Minnesota may be engaged in certain employment practices that discriminate against employees, job applicants and training program participants based on race and sex in violation of Title VII,” DOJ’s Civil Rights Division head, assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, wrote in a Thursday letter to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) and Minnesota Department of Human Services’ temporary commissioner Shireen Gandhi. 

“Specifically, we have reason to believe the Minnesota Department of Human Services is engaging in unlawful action through, among other things, the adoption and forthcoming implementation of its ‘hiring justification’ policy,” Dhillon said in the 2-page letter. 

The Minnesota Department of Human Services rolled out a new policy earlier this month, requiring supervisors to provide a “hiring justification when seeking to hire a non-underrepresented candidate when hiring for a vacancy in a job category with underrepresentation.” 

The Trump administration has cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts, arguing it is discriminatory against Asian and white people.

Minnesota’s Department of Human Services told The Associated Press that it “follows all state and federal hiring laws,” adding that the justification for “non-affirmative action hires for some vacancies has been required by state law since 1987.” 

Trump and his allies have butted heads with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), who was former Vice President Harris’s running mate in 2024 and who has since criticized the administration’s decision-making. Ellison has also filed lawsuits against the administration. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement on Thursday that Minnesotans “deserve to have their state government employees hired based on merit, not based on illegal DEI.”