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Federal judge orders minority-business agency opened to all races
The ruling sides with White plaintiffs in finding the Minority Business Development Agency’s presumption of disadvantage is unconstitutionalMarch 6, 2024
![mbda_318px.jpg](http://fitsmallbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/mbda_318px.jpg)
In a 93-page opinion rendered Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman ruled that the Minority Business Development Agency’s presumption that businesses owned by Blacks, Latinos and other minorities are disadvantaged violated the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. He permanently enjoined the agency’s business centers, which have assisted minority-owned businesses in accessing capital and government contracts, from extending services based on an applicant’s race.
“If courts mean what they say when they ascribe supreme importance to constitutional rights, the federal government may not flagrantly violate such rights with impunity. The MBDA has done so for years. Time’s up,” wrote Pittman, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump in 2019.
The decision marks the latest blow to government affirmative action programs in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark rulings against Harvard and the University of North Carolina last June. The high court’s finding upended race-conscious college admissions and sparked a broad legal offensive against affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the private and public sectors. Within weeks, a federal judge in Tennessee struck down a provision of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program that equated race with social disadvantage as unconstitutional, forcing the agency to overhaul it
Legal experts said Tuesday’s ruling could have even more profound implications for how the government provides aid to historically disadvantaged groups
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