Five Philly police officers sue over DEI, backed by a Trump-aligned legal team
The police officers say they were passed over for promotions in favor of candidates with lower civil service exam scores because of a 2021 policy change to promote diversity.
Five police officers say in a new federal lawsuit they were skipped over for promotions because of a Philadelphia policy change to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the municipal workforce.
The officers — Christopher Bloom, Kollin Berg, Joseph Musumeci, Marc Monachello, and Leroy Ziegler — claim they were victims of an “illegal and discriminatory” policy change adopted by City Council and Philadelphia voters in the aftermath of Black Lives Matter protests that swept the nation.
The lawsuit is a proposed class action on behalf of “all white male employees” of the Philadelphia Police Department who were passed over for promotions since 2021 in favor of a candidate with lower exam scores. The complaint was filed by a team of attorneys affiliated with President Donald Trump who have sued the city previously over diversity initiatives.
The change at the heart of the latest lawsuit is related to the so-called rule of two that required city managers to choose between the two candidates with the highest Civil Service exam scores. The rule was an often-cited reason for the limited diversity in the city workforce.
Voters got rid of the requirement through a ballot question in 2021, giving the city more discretion to tailor the number of finalists for a position.
The five officers sought promotions in November, three from lieutenant to captain and two from sergeant to lieutenant. All were “passed over for one of these promotions on account of their race and sex,” the suit says.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, quotes from legislative documents and statements from politicians to argue that the rule change was racially motivated.
A 2022 resolution calling on then-Mayor Jim Kenney to study the impact of the rule change “repeatedly bemoans the fact that white men were obtaining too many promotions under the city’s merit-based promotion system,” the suit says, calling it “one of the many examples of the city of Philadelphia’s determination to impose illegal DEI practices that consciously and intentionally discriminate against white men.”
Another example cited in the lawsuit is a statement by Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, a Council member at the time, who championed the change. She is quoted as saying that “for too long, the Rule of Two has held back Black and Brown employees.”
The suit is the latest filed by a team of conservative lawyers against Philadelphia over efforts to address racial inequity. The attorneys include Pennsylvania’s self-described “go-to” lawyer for Republicans, Wally Zimolong; Jonathan Mitchell, the former Texas solicitor general who is credited as the legal mind behind that state’s abortion ban; and attorneys from American First Legal, an organization formed by Trump adviser Stephen Miller.
In October, the group settled a lawsuit that claimed the city violated the Constitution by forcing bidders to sign agreements that included diverse workforce goals. The city agreed to pay $417,000 in attorneys’ fees and clarify that diversity benchmarks in project agreements were aspirational goals, not mandatory quotas.
Parker’s administration ended a Philadelphia policy prioritizing businesses owned by women or people of color in city contracting shortly after the settlement.
And earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit revived a lawsuit brought by Philadelphia School District parents challenging admission-policy changes to selective schools as racially motivated.
The attorneys are not targeting Philadelphia, according to Zimolong.
“Philadelphia just so happens to habitually enact policies that violate the United States Constitution,” he said.
Zimolong declined to comment on the current lawsuit, as did the city’s law department.
The complaint names as defendants the city, the police department, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, Deputy Commissioner Krista Dahl-Campbell, and Philadelphia Chief Human Resources Officer Candi Jones. It asks a judge to order the promotion of the officers and declare that the city’s current hiring policies are unlawful because they consider race and gender.
Passed over
Police lieutenants Bloom, Berg, and Musumeci sought promotions in fall 2025. There were 10 available positions, and the trio ranked eighth, 11th, and 13th, respectively, on the “captain eligibility” list based on exam scores.
After interviews, six candidates were passed over in favor of those with lower scores, according to the complaint. Five of those six were white males.
The lawsuit alleges a similar pattern when the department decided not to promote sergeants Monachello and Ziegler.
“Monachello and Ziegler were passed over for promotion in favor of lower-ranked female or minority candidates with lower scores on the civil-service examination,” the suit says.
The Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 blasted the police department in a statement following the November promotions, saying the union filed grievances and was considering other actions against “unfair DEI practices in law enforcement.” The FOP also sent a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice asking to review the promotion criteria, the suit says.
» READ MORE: The first Philly police DEI chief was victim to the discrimination she was hired to fix, lawsuit says
The police department workforce is 50% white, 34% Black, 12% Hispanic, and 3% Asian, according to data from the city. Nearly 40% of new hires this fiscal year have been Black, compared with 33% white.
In comparison, the city’s population is 44% white, 42% Black, 16% Hispanic, and 9% Asian, according to the Census Bureau.
The department has faced racial discrimination lawsuits from employees, including regarding promotions. But usually the candidates allege they were passed over for a white candidate.
For example, in October, an Asian officer sued after not getting promoted to captain, noting in the complaint that “no person of Asian descent has been promoted to the rank of Captain since 1976.”
Leslie Marant, the department’s first DEI chief, was fired after less than two years and has filed a suit alleging she became a victim of the systemic sex discrimination she was tasked with fixing.