The Justice Department declared this week that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s “disparate-impact” policies are unconstitutional, tossing aside a rule, long criticized by conservatives, that saw racial discrimination whenever a policy resulted in outcomes that differed among people of different races — regardless of whether the policy had anything to do with race.

In a 25-page opinion from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel on Tuesday, the DOJ found that the EEOC’s policies, which made employers susceptible to Title VII racial discrimination lawsuits if hiring or promotion outcomes are different for different races, are unconstitutional. The opinion found that EEOC policies disregarded the intention behind employers’ hiring practices, instead pressuring them into engaging in race-based decision-making, in violation of the Constitution.