Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier each announced opinions on Monday, the holiday set aside to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., declaring that affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion policies are forbidden in their states.
Mr. Uthmeier identified more than 80 laws in his state that he said mandate illegal race-based treatment. Mr. Paxton said he had spotted more than 100 “woke state laws” erected over decades that he deemed unconstitutional.
Mr. Paxton said the choice of the holiday commemorating the late civil rights leader was intentional.
“This action to dismantle DEI in Texas helps fulfill the vision articulated by Martin Luther King Jr. when he dreamed that his children would one day live in a nation where they were judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” Mr. Paxton said.
DEI policies support racial, ethnic, and sex- or gender-identity populations. Supporters say the policies are intended to address past barriers and celebrate differences and diversity.
The policies grew in popularity in recent years, with a particular focus after the 2020 death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.
Mr. Paxton and Mr. Uthmeier, both Republicans, said giving preferences based on race is an affront to the Constitution’s founding principles and, after recent court rulings, cannot survive legal scrutiny.
The attorneys general approvingly cited the 2023 Supreme Court opinion striking down race-based preferences at colleges and universities as violations of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
Mr. Paxton and Mr. Uthmeier said that reasoning extends beyond higher education and must be applied to government hiring and contracting, as well as business and health care decisions.
In Texas, that means the state’s affirmative action policies, including park locations and the approval of clean energy funds and water projects, are now suspect.
In Florida, Mr. Uthmeier said laws requiring minority quotas on boards and councils, in government contracts and in state agency hiring are in danger.
He listed state laws that require the high school athletic association’s public liaison advisory committee to have at least one principal who is “a member of a racial minority,” to push procurement officers to promote the use of minority-owned businesses, and to set diversity goals for construction projects to have 4% Black Americans, 6% Hispanic Americans and 11% women.
“Any Florida law that seeks to mandate discrimination based on race by giving preferences to certain racial groups, using race-based classifications, or by employing racial quotas is unconstitutional,” Mr. Uthmeier wrote in a 14-page opinion, which focused heavily on race-based DEI.
Mr. Paxton’s opinion stretched to 74 pages and took aim at preferences based on sex or gender identity as well as race or ethnicity.
He told private businesses to be wary of their own DEI practices. That includes hiring but also covers DEI training programs that Mr. Paxton said might “create a hostile work environment,” depending on how they are conducted.
“This may come as a news flash to the radicals on the far left, but our Constitution and the rule of law do not allow woke, race-based favoritism that tears our country apart,” Mr. Paxton said. “It’s imperative that all private-sector employers, schools, and state and local government entities — based on this legal opinion — immediately abolish any DEI, affirmative action or unconstitutional discrimination programs under their authority.”
Mr. Paxton, who is seeking to unseat Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary this year, said that when Mr. Cornyn was state attorney general in 1999, he “muddied the waters” on the issue with an opinion that opened the door to an expansion of DEI programs in Texas.
“Attorney General Paxton’s opinion restores clarity, order and constitutional integrity,” his office said in the statement announcing the new action.
The Washington Times has sought comment from Mr. Cornyn’s Senate office.
