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“Excluding students from these esteemed fellowships because they are the wrong race is unfair, polarizing and illegal,” said Edward Blum, president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, the plaintiff in both lawsuits. “Law firms that have racially-exclusive programs should immediately make them available to all applicants, regardless of their race.”
A Perkins Coie representative had no immediate comment on the lawsuit. Morrison & Foerster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since late June, when the Supreme Court ruled against racial consideration in college and university admissions, there’s been a rush of legal activity aimed at translating the court’s race-blind stance to the employment sphere. In July, 13 attorneys general sent a letter to the CEOs of Fortune 100 companies, warning that the overturning of affirmative action could have ramifications for corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In recent months, America First Legal, the conservative nonprofit organization backed by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, has filed complaints against Nordstrom, Activision Blizzard and Kellogg’s, alleging that their DEI policies constitute racial discrimination.
Private employers are broadly barred from using race as a deciding factor in matters of employment, and policies and practices used by companies to increase diversity and inclusion in their ranks are not at all similar to the tactics at play in college admissions, according to Stacy Hawkins, a law professor at Rutgers and a former corporate employment lawyer who specializes in diversity.
“What employers are doing now is really not affirmative action,” Hawkins said. “Quite frankly, the most risky thing an employer can do is make any employment decision explicitly on the basis of race or gender.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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