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On August 2, 2012, I attended the monthly public board meeting of the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) to comment on CHSRA’s new race-based contracting goal.  For anyone who has not attended one of these meetings, they appear to have evolved into an assembly of the mutual admiration society where supporters of high-speed rail a ...

PLF and our friends at the Center for Equal Opportunity (CEO) frequently send letters to local governments that are considering whether to adopt discriminatory race- and sex- based contracting preferences.   These letters urge local governments to refrain from classifying individuals on the basis of race.   Local construction contracts should g ...

Earlier this week I participated in oral argument before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for our case in Associated General Contractors of America, San Diego Chapter v. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).  As a condition of taking federal highway funds, Caltrans administers a federal contracting program called the Disadvantaged ...

In my last post about our case Associated General Contractors of America, San Diego Chapter  v. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), I described how Caltrans implements the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program in a way that requires prime contractors to discriminate against subcontractors on the basis of race and ...

Is race a qualification for contractors in California?  Last November, the United States Department of Transportation approved the policy of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) that 9.5% of the federal funds the state receives for transportation projects will go to subcontractors of preferred races.  The policy is contained in ...

Useful innocent? Useful idiot?  No, just uninformed.  At least that appears to be the explanation for a contractor who expressed delight with a court ruling that allows the government to continue its racial discrimination . . . against him. In 2011, a federal district court judge for the Eastern District of California upheld a California Depar ...

Will discriminatory contract requirements derail the California high speed rail?  In June, the California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) is expected to award its first ever contract for the design and construction of a segment of California’s high speed rail line.  The contract will cover portions of Madera and Fresno counties.  Unfort ...

The disappointing decision by the Ninth Circuit yesterday in AGC San Diego v California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) means that Caltrans can continue its policy of multiracial discrimination. Caltrans imposes a one-size-fits-all racial preference on all federally assisted transportation construction and engineering contracts statewide. ...

PLF attorneys are filing a brief in support of Midwest Fence Corporation in its “David versus Goliath” legal challenge against race-based public contracting programs in Illinois.  Both federal and state programs are at issue, and Midwest Fence had to sue several state and federal agencies to try to save their business.  Here is PLF&# ...