TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Sep 25, 2024

A U.S. district judge ruled that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s consideration of race or gender when awarding federal highway and transit project funding to disadvantaged small businesses is unconstitutional. According to Reuters, the judge on Monday ruled that a federal program that was enacted in 1983, which treats businesses owned by racial minorities and women as presumptively disadvantaged and eligible for funding, violated the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantees. The plaintiffs argued the program discriminated against other racial groups, such as white people, and violated the Fifth Amendment. The judge cited a recent Supreme Court ruling that effectively prohibited affirmative action policies long used in college admissions to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students on American campuses.