A district judge in Texas has rejected the plea deal between Boeing and the United States Department of Justice regarding two deadly 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Reed O¡¯Connor rejected the plea deal due to requirements that the government's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies be considered when the government selected an independent compliance monitor for Boeing.

Boeing initially agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and pay a fine of at least $243 million after over 340 people died in the two crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

In October, Judge O¡¯Connor questioned how DEI policies would impact the choice of monitor, taking issue with language in the agreement that ¡°did not allow the court to have a say in selecting or supervising the independent monitor.¡±

Boeing and the DOJ have 30 days to respond with a plan to proceed.

Judge O¡¯Connor wrote the following in his ruling against the proposed plea deal:

¡°In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency. The parties¡¯ DEI efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the Government and Boeing¡¯s ethics and anti-fraud efforts. Accordingly, the diversity-and-inclusion provision renders the plea agreement against the public interest.¡±

¡°It is fair to say that the Government¡¯s attempt to ensure compliance has failed. At this point, the public interest requires the Court to step in. Marginalizing the Court in the selection and monitoring of the independent monitor as the plea agreement does undermines public confidence in Boeing¡¯s probation, fails to promote respect for the law, and is therefore not in the public interest.¡±

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