“The Way to Stop Discrimination on the Basis of Race is to Stop Discrimination on the Basis of Race”
-U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts
Texas Public Policy Foundation attorneys, along with America First Legal, struck a blow against government-sanctioned discrimination. A Biden administration program that “prioritized” COVID-19 relief funds based upon the race of the owner—and would have run out long before everyone could be considered—has been halted by a federal judge.
“The SBA’s website says that it will ‘only process and fund priority group applications’ during the first 21 days of the program, which began on May 3, 2021, and it will only process and fund those applications if the applicant ‘has self-certified that it meets the eligibility requirements for a small business owned by
women, veterans, or socially and economically disadvantaged individuals,’” a TPPF filing explains.
But that leaves out small businesses such as the Lost Cajun restaurant in Keller—based solely on the race of the owners.
“On May 18, 2021, the Small Business Administration issued a press release announcing that it has already received 303,000 applications for relief, representing over $69 billion in requested funds,” TPPF attorneys say. “This raises the prospect that the entire $28.6 billion that Congress appropriated will be depleted before applications submitted by non-priority applicants are even eligible to be considered. Indeed, it makes it more than likely that the appropriated funds will be depleted.”
It’s patently unconstitutional to offer or to deny assistance to a business based on the race of the owner, notes TPPF General Counsel Robert Henneke.
“As the Supreme Court ruled in 1976, ‘The central purpose of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is the prevention of official conduct discriminating on the basis of race,” Henneke says. “This is nothing more than a naked discriminatory preference that turns a disaster relief program into a politicized spoils system.”
Yet it’s in keeping with the Biden administration’s continued fascination with Critical Race Theory. As leading CRT proponent Ibram X. Kendi says, “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”
This approach is unacceptable—and unconstitutional.
“Equal rights under law is the cornerstone of American constitutional jurisprudence: the principle that all citizens, regardless of status, wealth, race, color, religion, or creed, have the same rights and are entitled to the same standard of justice,” Henneke contends. “As a nation, we are devoted to the task of satisfying these sacred ideals and providing equal rights to citizens of all races, as the Constitution requires.”