National Center for Public Policy Research v. Weber
California’s race quota requires discrimination on corporate boards
By the end of 2021, every company subject to AB 979 must have a minimum of one director from an underrepresented community on its board. By the end of 2022, any company with four or fewer directors must have one underrepresented minority board member, any company with between four and nine directors must have two underrepresented board members, and ...
McKinney v. Vilsack
Race-based COVID-19 farm loan forgiveness denies equal treatment to Texas farmer
Jarrod McKinney began his farming journey about eight years ago with help from a federal loan for beginning farmers. Like many farmers in the Texarkana region, Jarrod raises cattle, tending today to 60 pairs. Like many farmers facing economic hardship in the pandemic's aftermath, Jarrod was hopeful when he heard about a farm loan forgiveness provis ...
Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid
Supreme Court affirms property rights for California fruit growers
Cedar Point Nursery and Fowler Packing Company are California growers that produce fruit for millions of Americans. Collectively, they employ around 3,000 Californians. In 2015, the United Farm Workers (UFW) viewed the workers as ripe for the picking and sent union organizers to storm the workplaces during harvest time to encourage them to unionize ...
AFEF v. Montgomery County Public Schools
Parents fight racial balancing efforts that deny educational opportunities
Montgomery County Public Schools is Maryland's largest public school district and one of the best in the state, with a robust magnet program for gifted and talented students. The district recently changed its admissions criteria for magnet programs at four middle schools ostensibly to make the programs more "equitable." But the changes have created ...
Ogilvie v. Gordon
California’s DMV strays from its own lane to act as speech police
To Chris Ogilvie's military friends, he's known as OG—a nickname stemming from boot camp. To his friends back home, Chris is known as Woolf. So, upon his honorable discharge following four tours overseas including Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army veteran bought a car and applied for a personalized license plate spelled "OGWOOLF." The DMV rejected h ...
Creighton Meland Jr. v. Shirley N. Weber, Secretary of State of California
Fighting California’s discriminatory woman quota law
Last year, California enacted a woman quota law, which requires all publicly traded companies that are incorporated or headquartered in the state to have a certain number of females on their boards of directors. This law ignores that women are making great strides in the boardroom without a government mandate, and therefore perpetuates the myth tha ...
Kotler v. Webb
California’s next frontier as speech police: your license plate
Jon Kotler is a First Amendment professor at the University of Southern California (USC). He is also a huge fan of the London-based Fulham Football Club and a longtime season ticket holder. Wishing to celebrate the team's recent success, Jon applied for a personalized license plate with the letters "COYW," which stands for "Come on You Whites," the ...
Connecticut Parents Union v. Cardona
Race-based quotas in Connecticut schools hurt Black and Hispanic students
Each year, world-class magnet schools in Connecticut deny admission to thousands of deserving children while leaving available seats empty—because of skin color. State law requires magnet schools' enrollment to be at least 25 percent white or Asian. This means Black and Hispanic students are turned away if their admission would push minority enro ...
Warren Lent v. California Coastal Commission
Massive—and unconstitutional—beach access fines threaten family home
In 2016, the Lents received the California Coastal Commission's first ever fine—$4.185 million—for blocking public access to the beach. The home sits 20 feet above the beach and, without stairs or a ramp, the public cannot safely get to the beach. The property originally included an outdoor stairway and a gate to block the large drop—both of ...