TRUMP 47 SALE: 74% Off VIP Membership - FINAL HOURS!
The Trump Effect: Qatar Sends a Message to Remaining Hamas Leaders
We Won Big, But This Isn't a Permanent Victory
University of Oregon Employee Suspended After Telling Trump Supporters to Kill Themselves
If You Thought Media Reactions to the Election Were Bad, Just Look at...
Coincidence? NYC Mayor Eric Adams Makes Major Immigration Announcement After Phone Call Wi...
'From the Jailhouse to the Texas House': Candidate Who Defied COVID Restrictions Wins...
The Results Are in: Trump Won Walz's Home County in the 2024 Election
Andrew Yang Offers Some Telling Advice on What Kamala Should Have Done Differently
Axios Report Offers Quite the Insight on the Blame Game Between Biden, Harris...
'Ending the Federal Lawfare'? Jack Smith Makes Notable Move
Why Daniel Penny's Jury Consultant Made Prosecutors Sweat
Analysis: How Many Senate Seats Will Republicans Control When All the Votes Are...
The Clintons Have Broken Their Silence About Trump's Election Victory
Here's What Rashida Tlaib Was Posting About As Israelis Were Being Targeted in...
Tipsheet

Judge Rules California Diversity Mandate for Corporations Is Unconstitutional

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

A California judge ruled that the state's diversity law requiring corporations to have racial minorities or members of the LGBTQ+ community serve on their board of directors was unconstitutional.

Advertisement

The judge, who handed down the ruling Friday, concluded that the law violated California's constitutional equal protection clause, according to a summary judgment granted to Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group that filed a permanent injunction against the measure.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement to The Associated Press that the decision "declared unconstitutional one of the most blatant and significant attacks in the modern era on constitutional prohibitions against discrimination."

Signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, the law mandates that corporate boards of publicly traded companies with a main executive office in California must have a racial or ethnic minority or a member of the LGBTQ+ community serving on their boards by the end of 2021. 

The measure also made it a requirement that, by the end of 2022, two members of an aforementioned "underrepresented community" must serve on the board in corporations with four to nine directors and three such minority directors must serve on a board with more than nine directors.

"When we talk about racial justice, we talk about empowerment, we talk about power, and we need to talk about seats at the table," Newsom said when he signed the legislation into law.

Advertisement

The state had argued in its court filings that the measure did not "discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting."

Corporations that fail to follow the rule could face fines of $100,00 for first violations and $300,000 for subsequent violations.

According to a "Diversity on Boards" report released last month by California's secretary of state, 300 out of 700 corporations had complied with the law but more than half did not submit the proper disclosure statement.

Former California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a similar law in 2018 requiring women to serve on boards of directors in the state despite his acknowledgment that the law could be overturned in court.

A Judicial Watch lawsuit is challenging that measure as well.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement