DOJ Launches Probe Into Calif. State Regulator Championed By Newsom

The Justice Department is investigating the California Environmental Protection Agency over its racial equity hiring practices.

In a letter to the state agency on Wednesday, the Trump administration said CalEPA “may be engaged in employment practices that discriminate … based on race, color, sex, and national origin.” The DOJ specifically referenced the agency’s “Practices to Advance Racial Equity in Workforce Planning.”

The program calls for “applying a racial equity lens to every phase of workforce development” and adds that interview panels should be comprised of racial, ethnic, gender, and other diversity factors “as much as possible.”

The Hill noted that the start of the DOJ probe doesn’t mean that CalEPA has done anything wrong. But there it appears that officials at the Justice Department believe there is enough to warrant a legal examination.

President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have long had a combative relationship. Newsom, seen as a likely 2028 presidential contender, has frequently mocked Trump online and used his platform in California to oppose the president’s push to expand Republican congressional seats in Texas.

Trump has done the same to Newsom, hitting the California Democrat over crime, homelessness, high taxes, and overregulation that has driven hundreds of thousands of residents out of the state.

The administration has also clashed with California in recent weeks over vehicle regulations, moving to revoke the state’s authority to set electric car rules and to work with companies on truck emissions standards.

The administration has also been outspoken in opposing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at both the federal and state levels. Supporters of such efforts say they are aimed at reducing disparities and improving opportunities for historically marginalized groups, though no reliable evidence of discrimination has been produced.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon noted in a written statement that “race-based employment practices and policies in America’s local and state agencies violate equal treatment under the law.”

“Agencies that unlawfully use protected characteristics as a factor in employment and hiring risk serious legal consequences,” Dhillon said, per The Hill.

Last week, a federal judge struck down two California laws aimed at stopping artificial intelligence from being used to influence elections, ruling the measures violated constitutional speech protections and federal law.

Senior U.S. District Judge John Mendez, a George W. Bush nominee, on Friday barred enforcement of Assembly Bill 2839, which prohibited AI-generated “disinformation and deepfakes” in political ads 120 days before an election. The measure had been challenged by internet personalities and the satirical site The Babylon Bee, The Washington Times reported.

“To be sure, deepfakes and artificially manipulated media arguably pose significant risks to electoral integrity, but the challenges launched by digital content on a global scale cannot be quashed through censorship or legislative fiat,” Mendez wrote. “Just as the government may not dictate the canon of comedy, California cannot preemptively sterilize political content.”

Mendez also issued a judgment against Assembly Bill 2655, which required online platforms to remove such material. He had previously ruled the law conflicted with Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which shields platforms from liability over third-party content. That measure was challenged by platforms X and Rumble.

Newsom signed both bills in September 2024, warning of the risks AI poses to democratic trust. “It’s critical that we ensure AI is not deployed to undermine the public’s trust through disinformation — especially in today’s fraught political climate,” he said at the time.

The court’s ruling halts California’s attempt to become the first state in the nation to regulate AI political content heading into the 2026 election cycle.

“California is entering its first-ever generative artificial intelligence (AI) election, in which disinformation powered by generative AI will pollute our information ecosystems like never before. … Those trying to influence campaigns—conspiracy theorists, foreign states, online trolls, and even candidates themselves—are already creating and distributing deepfake images, audio, and video content, in the US and around the world,” state lawmakers noted in a fact sheet supporting the legislation.