This week, a federal judge issued a new ruling against a Biden-Harris administration initiative that distributed approximately $37 billion in federal road contracts to businesses owned by women and racial minorities.
This decision has prompted concerns regarding the survival of a decades-old affirmative action program.
The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program has mandated that approximately 10% of federal funds allocated for road construction contracts be allocated to women and specific racial minorities since the 1980s.
In 2021, Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which reauthorized the DBE and allocated $37 billion to eligible recipients..
Two small businesses filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Department this year, alleging that the DBE program resulted in a loss of commerce.
The Biden-Harris administration was unable to enforce the affirmative action quotas of the DBE against the businesses, according to Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove’s ruling released on Monday.
This is the most recent caste that ensues from the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision that declared affirmative action unconstitutional.
A federal judge determined that the Minority Business Development Agency must be amenable to collaborating with business owners of all races, while another judge ruled that the Small Business Administration was prohibited from awarding contracts based on the assertion that specific races are inherently disadvantaged.
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