Justice Department to defend DEI policy that threatens to derail Boeing deal

The Justice Department is preparing to defend its use of diversity policies in choosing an independent monitor to oversee a plea agreement with Boeing Co., setting up a potential clash with a conservative judge that could delay a deal the company is eager to implement.

The Justice Department is preparing to defend its use of diversity policies in choosing an independent monitor to oversee a plea agreement with Boeing Co., setting up a potential clash with a conservative judge that could delay a deal the company is eager to implement. The politically tinged fight is playing out in federal court in Texas, where US District Judge Reed O’Connor has homed in on standard language used by the Justice Department calling for diversity, equity and inclusion to be taken into consideration when choosing corporate monitors. O’Connor set a deadline of Friday for the administration to explain its use of so-called DEI policies in that program. The diversity language used in the Boeing criminal plea deal has been around since at least 2018 – during the Trump administration, according to a person familiar with the policy. Still, it has become a key holdup as O’Connor mulls whether to approve the plea deal. So-called DEI policies – which companies use as part of an effort to create a fair workplace environment regardless of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation – have come under fire from conservatives who say the policies are actually discriminatory and disadvantage groups, particularly Whites. Now, the court battle playing out in Texas will decide whether to allow Boeing to plead guilty as part of a deal with the Justice Department to resolve a criminal investigation stemming from plane crashes that killed 346 people. One key component of the deal is a court-appointed monitor who would oversee a three-year probationary period during which the company has promised to enact safety and compliance changes. Boeing officials are eager to get the agreement approved so the company can put behind it the years of legal and regulatory problems. The detour into the political issue of DEI threatens to delay the badly needed agreement as the company is working to recover from the negative publicity over safety lapses and management turnover.