Sandy Chiong knows what it means to fight for freedom. Her grandfathers immigrated from China to Cuba, where they met and married Sandy’s grandmothers. Her family later fled Cuba after Castro’s takeover, seeking liberty in America. This history shaped Sandy’s deep appreciation for constitutional rights and her commitment to defending them.
Today, Sandy lives in South Carolina and wants to serve her community by joining the state’s Commission for Minority Affairs. Established legislatively in 1993, the Commission’s purpose is to study socio-economic challenges facing minorities and implement programs meant to address inequities.
The nine-member Commission consists of one person from each of the state’s seven congressional districts and two at-large members, all appointed by the governor. There are no stated qualifications for the four-year terms except one: the Commission’s majority must be African American.
In other words, South Carolina’s law forces the governor to consider, and favor, individuals of one race when choosing who can serve on this public board.
The Commission has three vacant seats and two expired terms to fill—including the state’s 7th Congressional District, where Sandy lives. Based on the board’s current makeup, African Americans must fill at least two of these five positions to maintain the required majority.
Sandy is technically eligible for appointment, but with Chinese Cuban ancestry, the race-based mandate puts her at a clear—and unjust—disadvantage.
It’s wrong and offensive for the government to make assumptions about people’s experiences and qualifications based on arbitrary racial categories. When being considered for public service opportunities, people should be treated as individuals, not as members of a group they did not choose.
The state’s racial quota is also unconstitutional. The Equal Protection Clause guarantees all Americans equal treatment under the law, regardless of immutable characteristics like race or sex.
Represented at no charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, Sandy is fighting back with a federal lawsuit to ensure that all qualified candidates can compete equally for public service, regardless of race.
Meanwhile, South Carolina is far from the only state that uses immutable characteristics to limit opportunities for individuals to serve their state and local communities. A PLF report on the 20 most commonly licensed professions revealed that this unconstitutional discrimination has been codified in 25 states—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Without action, the problem is likely to worsen. PLF is working to defeat race and sex board quotas in South Carolina and everywhere else the unconstitutional practice is allowed.
What’s At Stake?
- South Carolina cannot deny individuals the opportunity to serve on public boards due to their race. Racial quotas are unjust, unconstitutional, and un-American.
- Limiting opportunities for public service—like public board membership—based on race violates the very notion of equality before the law. People should be treated as individuals, not as members of a group they did not choose.
