XPost: alt.discrimination, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.n   
   tionalism.white   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: fu-dei-racists@texas.us   
      
   A federal judge in Texas said Tuesday that a US Commerce Department agency   
   intended to help minority-owned businesses must offer assistance to all   
   individuals, regardless of race, agreeing with White business owners who   
   claimed that its policies were unconstitutional.   
      
   The ruling from US District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former   
   President Donald Trump, stems from a lawsuit brought by several White   
   business owners against the Minority Business Development Agency, which is   
   “dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of minority business   
   enterprises,” according to its website.   
      
   Pittman said that the agency had violated the equal protection clause of   
   the Constitution’s 14th Amendment through its reliance on a statutory   
   presumption that members of certain minority groups are “‘socially or   
   economically disadvantaged’ and … thus entitled to services.” The list of   
   groups includes African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and   
   Native Americans, among others.   
      
   The judge permanently barred the agency from “considering or using an   
   applicant’s race or ethnicity in determining whether they can receive”   
   assistance from one of the agency’s dozens of business centers, which help   
   businesses with things like securing funding and competing for contracts.   
      
   “Plaintiffs all encountered the same obstacle when they sought MBDA   
   programming. Because they aren’t on the Agency’s magic list, the Agency   
   presumes they aren’t disadvantaged,” Pittman wrote.   
      
   “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 judge wrote. “The MBDA has done so for   
   years. Time’s up.”   
      
   The MBDA is one of the only federal agencies focused exclusively on   
   developing and advocating for minority-owned businesses. The Nixon   
   administration established it in 1969 as a division of the US Department   
   of Commerce and it was later enshrined into federal law in 2021.   
      
   In recent years, conservatives have increasingly turned to federal courts   
   in Texas to challenge certain federal programs and actions. The Fort Worth   
   division of the Northern District of Texas, where Pittman is one of just a   
   few sitting judges, has become an especially favored venue given its   
   conservative tilt. In the past, Pittman has issued controversial rulings   
   on the Biden administration’s student debt relief policy and a state law   
   that banned people ages 18 to 20 from carrying handguns in public.   
      
   “To the extent the MBDA offers services pursuant to an unconstitutional   
   presumption, that’s fifty-five years too many,” Pittman said in his latest   
   ruling. “Today the clock runs out. ‘Yesterday is not ours to recover, but   
   tomorrow is ours to win or lose.’”   
      
   Tuesday’s ruling underscores the impact of the Supreme Court’s landmark   
   decision last year that said colleges and universities could no longer   
   take race into consideration as a specific basis for granting admissions.   
   Pittman cited the court’s majority opinion in that case, writing that   
   although it “concerned college admissions, nothing in the decision   
   indicates the Court’s holding should be constrained to that context.”   
      
   The US Supreme Court is seen in Washington, DC, on February 4, 2024.   
      
   “Like Harvard’s program in SFFA, the MBDA sees ‘an inherent benefit in   
   race qua race – race for race’s sake,’” he wrote. “Such disregard for the   
   necessity of race or for race-neutral alternatives is unconstitutional.”   
      
   The plaintiffs at the center of the case were three White business owners   
   who were denied MBDA services. They sued the agency in March 2023 and   
   Pittman last year temporarily blocked their local business centers from   
   denying them assistance as the lawsuit played out. His new order applies   
   to the agency nationwide.   
      
   In court papers, Justice Department attorneys representing MBDA pushed   
   back against the plaintiffs’ claims, saying, “Any member of a group not   
   presumed socially or economically disadvantaged may petition for a   
   presumption of disadvantage, regardless of race.”   
      
   “And while the application process may vary for individuals not included   
   in the MBDA presumptions, there is a pathway for them to access the   
   services of the MBDA Business Centers through an assertion of individual   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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