Citing discrimination against nonminorities in farming assistance programs, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has filed an amicus brief in support of plaintiff Robert Holman’s litigation against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He’s a corn and soybean farmer.
The institute is calling on the incoming Trump administration to address the issue among other federal agencies as well.
In an amicus brief supporting Holman, the conservative-leaning institute says prioritizing members of races deemed “socially disadvantaged” in taxpayer-funded assistance programs is unconstitutional.
“During the Biden administration, race discrimination infected every nook and cranny of the federal government,” Deputy Counsel Dan Lennington of the Institute for Law and Liberty said. “These programs impact Americans and small businesses every day. The new Congress and administration should immediately dismantle each one of these discriminatory programs. Otherwise, we’ll see them in court.”
WILL also said it had identified more than 60 federal programs across 11 federal agencies that allocate support based on racial preferences.
Examples included those agencies prioritizing racial minorities when distributing financial assistance, awarding contracts, granting business subsidies and home improvement rebates, and waiving required fees for those seeking disaster assistance.
In addition to the USDA, the law firm said such programs are being run in the Small Business Administration, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Treasury, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Communications Commission, Department of Transportation, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.
“These programs are designed to serve ‘socially disadvantaged individuals,’ a racially charged term created to favor some races over others,” the firm said in a statement. “Like many other federal agencies, USDA relies on unlawful stereotypes in distributing benefits to farmers, assuming that some races are all ‘disadvantaged’ while others are not.”
The law firm added that the incoming administration should use the USDA lawsuit and Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty’s findings as a “road map” in rooting out diversity, equity and inclusion policies in the federal government.
