Health and social policy

Executive Order 13160: Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Race, Sex, Color, National Origin, Disability, Religion, Age, Sexual Orientation, and Status as a Parent in Federally Conducted Education and Training Programs

President: Bill Clinton

Required equal opportunity across education and training programs conducted directly by federal executive agencies.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13160 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13160 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13160 do?

EO 13160 established nondiscrimination rules for federally conducted education and training programs, covering race, sex, color, national origin, disability, religion, age, sexual orientation and parental status. It required agency complaint and remedy procedures, subject to defined exclusions, and created no privately enforceable right. DOJ still publishes the order and its guidance, but says the guidance is nonbinding and must be read consistently with EO 14168. This later interpretive direction changes how DOJ presents its materials; it is not listed as an express revocation of EO 13160 in the reviewed disposition record.

Later evidence reviewed October 2, 2026: DOJ continues to publish EO 13160 materials, while stating that its guidance is nonbinding and subject to EO 14168.

Administration position: The order supplements statutes and applies to programs the federal government conducts; it does not necessarily govern every federally funded non-federal program or create a judicial cause of action.
SignedJune 23, 2000
CoverageFederally conducted education and training
CoordinatorDepartment of Justice

Before and after

Before the order

Existing civil-rights statutes did not uniformly cover every category across all directly conducted federal education programs.

After the order

Agencies had a common nondiscrimination policy, complaint process and remedial framework.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Federal agenciesPrevent discrimination and operate complaint proceduresContinuing
Justice DepartmentIssue guidance and decide coverage appealsContinuing
Defense DepartmentProvide procedures for covered civilian participantsContinuing

What happened next

EO 13160 signed.

Published in the Federal Register.

DOJ implementation guidance published in the Federal Register.

EO 14168 issued; DOJ directed readers to interpret its materials consistently with that order.

DOJ’s current guidance page and disclaimer reviewed.

Reviewed court position

Court status

See the court documents in Sources by type.