Trump to Scrap Obama-Era Affirmative Action Guidelines On Tuesday, the Trump administration scrapped Obama-era guidance on race-based admissions policies. The Justice Department declared it was eliminating 24 federal documents that it deemed "unnecessary, outdated, inconsistent with existing law, or otherwise improper." Seven of those documents issued jointly with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights under the Obama administration. They called on school superintendents and colleges to consider race when trying to diversify campuses. Universities, however, were already vowing to stick with their admissions policies despite the Trump administration reversal. The Trump administration is sending precisely the wrong message to institutions that are committed to following four decades of Supreme Court precedent.