Why We’ve Filed Civil-Rights Complaints Against DEI in New York and Wisconsin: ‘Discriminates openly based on race’; Justice Department Abandoning Cases Alleging Discriminatory Police and Firefighter Hiring
Why we’ve filed civil-rights complaints against DEI in New York and Wisconsin: ‘Discriminates openly based on race’:
A public-interest law firm has filed federal civil-rights complaints against New York and Wisconsin on behalf of contractors who say they’re losing millions thanks to those states’ race and gender discrimination in handing out lucrative government contracts, the New York Post can exclusively report.
“We’re a successful business by any metric, but if it wasn’t for the diversity requirements, we would be two or three times the size,” a New York company owner represented in the complaints told The Post.
“It’s been a significant frustration of mine for the last 10 years.”
He’s not alone.
But Donald Trump’s election and the president’s requirement — made in an executive order his first day back in the White House — that federal contract and grant recipients comply with federal anti-discrimination law have created a climate of hope.
After reading about the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s work on civil-rights cases, the supplier reached out. What resulted is WILL’s two complaints on behalf of Contractors for Equal Opportunity.
“Multiple times a day, we lose orders because we’re not a minority business,” the source, who supplies contractors for government-infrastructure projects and requested anonymity for fear of state reprisals, told The Post.
“I was actually with a customer yesterday, one of our good customers. And his words were: ‘You guys are considerably less expensive. You’re far easier to deal with. Your products are better. We love working with you, but unfortunately, we can’t buy off you most of the time because we have to meet these diversity goals.’”
Such set-asides are racially and sexually discriminatory — and so illegal under federal law, says Daniel Lennington, WILL’s managing vice president. —>READ MORE HERE
Justice Department abandoning cases alleging discriminatory police and firefighter hiring:
The Justice Department is abandoning cases that sought to force police and fire departments to end what the Biden administration alleged were discriminatory hiring processes, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday in the latest move by the Trump administration to end government support for efforts to increase diversity.
A Justice Department official said the administration is walking away from four cases, including one that led to a settlement agreement resolving an investigation into discriminatory hiring practices affecting Black and female applicants to the Maryland State Police. It’s part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to roll back initiatives and programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, which Republicans contend threaten merit-based hiring.
“American communities deserve firefighters and police officers to be chosen for their skill and dedication to public safety – not to meet DEI quotas,” the attorney general said in an emailed statement.
In the Maryland case, the Biden administration announced in October that it had reached an agreement with state police to change the ways applicants are tested after the department alleged police used a written test that discriminated against Black candidates and a physical fitness test that discriminated against female applicants.
The Biden administration found the tests disqualified Black and female applicants from the hiring process at significantly disproportionate rates, concluding that the tests violated a federal statute that prohibits employment discrimination based on race, sex, color, national origin, and religion. —>READ MORE HERE