First on the fox - A legal group that is closely aligned with the president Donald Trump Joining a federal court battle in Washington, D.C. to overturn the Carter-era consent order that prohibits the government from using performance-based recruitment, the resolution, if overturned, would eliminate one of the most influential civil servant decisions in the past 40 years.

A group aligned with Trump, the First Law Foundation (AFL) has filed a federal complaint in Washington, D.C. to remove its so-called outdated illegal efforts to promote diversity in federal recruitment to keep few qualified candidates relatively few.

AFL's senior consultant Nick Barry told Fox News Digital. “We have to go back to performance-based assessments. Race and other invariant traits have no place in this process.”

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The lawsuit targets Luevano's consent form, an agreement in which Black and Hispanic plaintiffs attacked the government in 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. The settlement ended performance recruitment practices in performance-based federal government agencies and required the replacement of written tests with alternative assessments.

Critics of these alternative assessments joined the complaints, including AFL and PLLC's Boyden Gray, consider them to be clumsy and outdated solutions that illegally promote unfair racial-based recruitment systems.

“We have to go back to performance-based assessments,” Barry added. “Race, color and other invariant characteristics have no place in that assessment.”

The Office of Personnel Management had previously asked the court to end the Carter-era system, and AFL and Boyden Gray are now joining the effort, believing it is contrary to the Supreme Court’s precedent.

“Being able to recruit the best and smartest people to work in Washington to reduce measures has brought dividends to the country,” AFL vice president Dan Epstein told Fox News Digital. “That’s the government that all Americans deserve.”

AFL's support could bring new momentum to OPM's attempt to end these federal recruitment practices. But this may also receive quite a bit of criticism.

While efforts to end or replace a 40-year-old alternative assessment system are not entirely radical, as the Trump administration continues to clash with government employees, in order to cut institutional budgets and labor.

The case, if heard in court, could reignite debates around the country about racially hiring practices.

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The United States was first established by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, and while not part of the formal Trump administration, Trump adviser Stephen Miller is one of Trump's most stringent immigration enforcement, demolishing DEI programs and ending affirmative action in public education. Miller resigned from the AFL and then rejoined the White House in 2025.

This is also true of this work, as many federal agencies struggle to deal with massive losses in personnel and institutional knowledge due to fund cuts and other orders from Doge.

Nevertheless, the AFL sees its efforts as supporting OPM and ending its view as an “impossible” standard for creating a widely used official exam.

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“Public service is public trust,” Epstein said. “The presidential administration from both sides has long advocated the end of irresponsible bureaucracies that failed to bring about a good turn for the American people.”

Neither the OPM nor the White House immediately responded to Fox News' comments on the new court application or opinions on existing recruitment practices.