Pacific Legal Foundation unveils ‘Next Civil Rights Act’ legislative package
May 19, 2026
Washington, DC; May 19, 2026: Pacific Legal Foundation today announced the Next Civil Rights Act, a 10-bill legislative package designed to eliminate race-based preferences in federal programs and strengthen civil rights enforcement for every American. The initiative arrives as the nation prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, reaffirming the founding promise that government must treat all people equally regardless of race, sex, religion, or national origin.
“From the passage of the first Civil Rights Act in 1866, to the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and through the groundbreaking Civil Rights Acts of the twentieth century, American lawmakers have made a promise that government-sponsored discrimination was over,” said Joe Luppino-Esposito, federal policy director with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Decades of race-based preferences and DEI mandates have broken that promise. This legislative package is about making equal treatment real.”
The package includes the Ending Discrimination in Government Contracting Act, recently introduced by Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Glenn Grothman, which would end race, ethnicity, and sex preferences in federal contracting. PLF is currently litigating a case regarding how these types of preferences are already targeting a family-owned paving company in New Jersey. Additional bills in the Next Civil Rights Act would dismantle federal DEI programs, eliminate disparate-impact liability, strengthen private civil rights enforcement, and protect economic liberty, healthcare freedom, and educational choice.
PLF will host a webinar May 21 at 11 a.m. ET with Rep. Grothman and PLF attorney Glenn Roper for an inside look at the initiative. The webinar is free and open to the press and will include Q&A with PLF’s staff and clients. Register here.
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About Pacific Legal Foundation
Pacific Legal Foundation is a national nonprofit law firm that defends Americans threatened by government overreach and abuse. Since our founding in 1973, we challenge the government when it violates individual liberty and constitutional rights. With active cases in 34 states plus Washington, D.C., PLF represents clients in state and federal courts, with 18 wins of 20 cases litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court.