The MHSAA enacted its policy after noticing a “striking pattern” on the board: with one exception, it had never had “a minority or female board member.”
The U.S Department of Justice has lent its support to a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, who is suing the governing body of a high school sports nonprofit that she claims engaged in race- and sex-based discrimination by denying a board position to a white man.
According to The Missouri Independent, attorneys for the Justice Department cited landmark civil rights cases like Loving v. Virginia—the ruling that struck down statutes against interracial marriage—to in a motion to intervene in Hanaway’s lawsuit. In the motion, the Department of Justice claims that the Missouri State High School Activities Association’s policy for board membership constitutes “systematic unconstitutional race and sex-based discrimination.”
The lawsuit more specifically targets an MSHSAA policy, passed in 2004, that reserves two at-large spots in its 10-member board for “candidates representing the under-represented gender of the current board or an under-represented ethnicity.”
The MHSAA enacted its policy after noticing a “striking pattern” on the board: with one exception, it had never had “a minority or female board member.”
The rule remaining in-place and largely unquestioned until 2025, when Cassville Superintendent Merlyn Johnson was prohibited from running for an empty at-large position. Johnson reported the denial as discrimination to State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, who exchanged letters with the MHSAA’s attorneys before referring the case to the attorney general’s office last November.
The organization has repeatedly defended its policy. In response to proposed legislation that would subject the MHSAA to state oversight, executive director Jennifer Rukstad told lawmakers that the rule continues to serve an obvious purpose.
“It has served our members and our organization very well,” she said. “It is our contention that it is not a discriminatory policy.”
The Missouri Independent notes that the Justice Department has characterized the MSHAA’s policy as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. And, before being fired from her post by President Donald Trump on Thursday, then-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi described the lawsuit as one of “general public importance.”
“Racial and sexual quotas are offensive, demeaning — and most importantly, illegal,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a related news release. “They are especially harmful when they exclude qualified candidates such as Dr. Johnson from public service.”
Sources
Justice Department joins Missouri lawsuit over diversity rule at high school sports association
U.S. Justice Department Joins Missouri Lawsuit Against MSHSAA Over Diversity Policy
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