Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier each announced opinions Monday declaring affirmative action and DEI policies to be forbidden in their states — on the holiday set aside to honor civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Uthmeier identified more than 80 laws in his state that he said mandate illegal race-based treatment. Mr. Paxton said he’d spotted more than 100 “woke state laws” erected over decades that he deemed unconstitutional.
Mr. Paxton said the choice of the King holiday was intentional.
“This action to dismantle DEI in Texas helps fulfill the vision articulated by Martin Luther King Jr. when he dreamed that his children would one day live in a nation where they were judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Mr. Paxton said.
Diversity, equity and inclusion policies are those that boost a racial, ethnic, sex or gender-identity population. DEI backers say their intention is to correct for past barriers and to celebrate differences and diversity.
They grew in popularity in recent years, with a particular focus following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
But Mr. Paxton and Mr. Uthmeier, both Republicans, said that giving preferences based on race is an affront to the founding ideas of the Constitution, and after recent court rulings, it can no longer survive legal scrutiny.
Both attorneys general approvingly cited the 2023 Supreme Court opinion striking down race-based preferences at colleges and universities as violations of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Mr. Paxton and Mr. Uthmeier said that reasoning extends beyond higher education and must be applied to government hiring and contracting, as well as business and health care decisions.
In Texas, that means the state’s affirmative action policies in everything from where parks are located to approving clean energy funds or water projects are now suspect.
In Florida, Mr. Uthmeier said laws requiring minority quotas on boards and councils, government contracts and state agency hiring are in danger.
He listed state laws that require the high school athletic association’s public liaison advisory committee to have at least one principal who is “a member of a racial minority,” push procurement officers to promote use of minority-owned businesses, and have set-aside goals for construction projects that include 4% for Black Americans, 6% for Hispanic Americans and 11% for women.
“Any Florida law that seeks to mandate discrimination based on race by giving preferences to certain racial groups, using race-based classifications, or by employing racial quotas is unconstitutional,” Mr. Uthmeier wrote in a 14-page opinion, which was focused heavily on race-based DEI.
Mr. Paxton’s opinion stretched to 74 pages and took aim at preferences based on sex or gender identity as well as race or ethnicity.
And he warned private businesses that they, too, need to be wary of their own DEI practices. That includes hiring, but it also covers DEI training programs that Mr. Paxton said might “create a hostile work environment,” depending on how they are conducted.
“This may come as a news flash to the radicals on the far-left, but our Constitution and the rule of law do not allow woke, race-based favoritism that tears our country apart,” Mr. Paxton said. “It’s imperative that all private-sector employers, schools, and state and local government entities — based on this legal opinion — immediately abolish any DEI, affirmative action, or unconstitutional discrimination programs under their authority.”
Mr. Paxton, who is seeking to unseat Sen. John Cornyn in this year’s Republican primary, said that when Mr. Cornyn was state attorney general in 1999, he “muddied the waters” on the issue with an opinion that opened the door to an expansion of DEI programs in Texas.
“Attorney General Paxton’s opinion restores clarity, order, and constitutional integrity,” his office said in the statement announcing the new action.
The Washington Times has sought comment from Mr. Cornyn’s Senate office.
