Nineteen Republican attorneys general have challenged the Commerce Department’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) principles in a letter.
“The Attorneys General of Kansas, Montana, and Tennessee, joined by 16 co-signing States, welcome the chance to comment on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s draft ‘Business Diversity Principles,’ through which the Department ostensibly seeks to advance ‘best practices related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the private sector,'” the letter says.
The proposed principles seek to meet “diversity targets,” model “inclusive behavior,” “hold executives accountable for failing to meet DEIA goals,” and assess “demographic data.”
Although the attorneys general note that they “endorse the value of promoting meaningful diversity of experience, thought, and background among the public- and private-sector workforce,” they emphasize that “race is both a poor and unlawful proxy for achieving that end.”
The letter, led by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, declares that race-based employment violates the U.S. Constitution.
Race-based employment also violates Title VII, according to the letter. “Make no mistake: Express racial quotas have never been lawful,” it reads.
“In short, federal law makes clear that well-intentioned racial discrimination is just as illegal as invidious discrimination. One thus might have hoped the Department would pivot away from illegal racial measures and towards diversity efforts that are consistent with current equal-protection and statutory limits on private-sector employers’ use of race,” the officials wrote. “But the proposed Business Diversity Principles instead double down on discrimination.”
The letter was also signed by the AGs of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.
“The federal Department of Commerce needs to recognize it’s not legal to treat people differently because of the color of their skin,” Attorney General Skrmetti said in a statement. “We’re warning the Department that its proposed ‘Business Diversity Principles’ guidance violates the law, promotes racial discrimination, and would lead our country backward.”
