Federal judge in Texas says agency created to help minority-owned businesses must provide assistance to all races

Washington CNN —

A federal judge in Texas said Tuesday that a US Commerce Department agency intended to help minority-owned businesses must offer assistance to all individuals, regardless of race, agreeing with White business owners who claimed that its policies were unconstitutional.

The ruling from US District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, stems from a lawsuit brought by several White business owners against the Minority Business Development Agency, which is “dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of minority business enterprises,” according to its website.

Pittman said that the agency had violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment through its reliance on a statutory presumption that members of certain minority groups are “‘socially or economically disadvantaged’ and … thus entitled to services.” The list of groups includes African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans and Native Americans, among others.

The judge permanently barred the agency from “considering or using an applicant’s race or ethnicity in determining whether they can receive” assistance from one of the agency’s dozens of business centers, which help businesses with things like securing funding and competing for contracts.

“Plaintiffs all encountered the same obstacle when they sought MBDA programming. Because they aren’t on the Agency’s magic list, the Agency presumes they aren’t disadvantaged,” Pittman wrote.

“If courts mean what they say when they ascribe supreme importance to constitutional rights, the federal government may not flagrantly violate such rights with impunity,” the judge wrote. “The MBDA has done so for years. Time’s up.”

The MBDA is one