The feds appear to be prodding businesses to make race-based personnel decisions as public and private entities, prompted by scrutiny from lawmakers, donors, and public interest law firms, run away from or just rebrand their diversity efforts.
That argument is being made by attorneys general from 19 states who urged the Commerce Department in a public comment to abandon its proposed "Business Diversity Principles," arguing they violate the 14th Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The signatories, led by Kris Kobach of Kansas, Austin Knudsen of Montana, and Jonathan Skrmetti of Tennessee, also warned the department against trying to sneak in racial discrimination through "superficially race-neutral measures."
Other signatories include Missouri's Andrew Bailey and Louisiana's Jeff Landry, the leaders of a similar effort to halt alleged government collusion with and coercion of social media companies to suppress disfavored narratives, a case the Supreme Court will hear this term.
