Texas grant program settles conservative group’s race bias lawsuit — TradingView News

A nonprofit grant program for small businesses in Texas has agreed not to consider applicants’ race after a judge ruled in a lawsuit by affirmative action foe Edward Blum that it had likely discriminated against white men.

Blum’s group, the American Alliance for Equal Rights, said in a filing in Fort Worth, Texas, federal court on Friday that it had accepted Founders First Community Development Corporation’s offer not to collect data on applicants’ race to bring an end to a lawsuit filed in April.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in late July temporarily blocked Founders First from administering a $50,000 grant program designed to aid small businesses in creating new jobs. O’Connor agreed with Blum’s group that the program likely violated a federal law banning race discrimination in contracts by favoring minorities, women and LGBTQ people.

Founders First and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The group has said that it does not base grant awards on applicants’ race or other protected traits.

Blum in a statement said his group was pleased that Founders First will “open its grantmaking to all individuals, regardless of their race.”

“It is our hope that other public and private entities follow the wise decision of Founders First and offer their programs and resources without using racial classifications and preferences,” he said.

Blum also founded Students for Fair Admissions, which last year convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to hold in a landmark ruling that colleges cannot use race-based admissions policies.

The decision, which involved policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina and only applied directly to college admissions, has been seized on by Blum and other conservative critics of affirmative action programs in cases challenging workforce diversity efforts, law firm fellowships, and small business grant programs.

While many of those cases are in early stages, some companies and law firms have abandoned or changed the terms of diversity initiatives in response to lawsuits or the threat of litigation.

Blum’s group in June won a ruling from the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocking venture capital fund Fearless Fund from making grants to Black women-owned businesses pending the outcome of a legal challenge.

The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Founders First Community Development Corporation, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, No. 4:24-cv-00327.

For AAER: Steven Begakis of Consovoy McCarthy

For Founders First: Gregg Costa of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

Read more:

US judge says Texas grant program discriminates against white business owners

US appeals court blocks grant program for Black women-owned businesses

Conservative activist behind US affirmative action cases sues venture capital fund

Some companies alter diversity policies after conservatives’ lawsuit threat

Anti-affirmative action activist targets 3 more law firms’ diversity fellowships

US Supreme Court rejects affirmative action in university admissions

Second major US law firm changes diversity fellowship after lawsuit