The lawsuit cl;aims that Minnesota requires hiring managers to “jump through additional hoops to hire employees with disfavored skin colors or sex chromosomes.”
The federal Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota, claiming that the state’s affirmative-action requirements are broadly unlawful.
In a press release, the Justice Department said that Minnesota’s “sex-and-race-based affirmative action plans” direct agencies to engage in employment practices that “balance” the demographic composition of the state’s civilian workforce.
“From suing over sanctuary city policies to a wide-ranging fraud investigation, today’s lawsuit is the Department of Justice’s latest effort to bring Minnesota into compliance with federal law,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Making hiring decisions based on immutable characteristics like race and sex is simple discrimination, and the Trump Administration has no tolerance for such DEI policies.”
Other Justice Department officials described the lawsuit as an extensive of the administration’s efforts to curtail affirmative action.
“For far too long, courts have allowed employers to discriminate based on race and sex when it is packaged as ‘affirmative action,’” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Supreme Court put an end to using race as a factor in college admissions through its Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision. This case is the next logical step. Title VII protects all people from race and sex discrimination in employment. There is no exception that allows discrimination against employees who aren’t considered ‘underrepresented.’”
The lawsuit more specifically alleges that Minnesota requires hiring managers to “jump through additional hoops to hire employees with disfavored skin colors or sex chromosomes.”
“Because staffing is a zero-sum game,” the lawsuit says, “when Minnesota gives preferences to employees or prospective employees on the basis of their race, color, national origin, and sex, it inevitably and necessarily discriminates against other employees or prospective employees because of their race, color, national origin, and sex.”
The Trump administration has taken a series of other drastic legal actions against Minnesota in recent weeks. Tensions between the state and the administration have continued to rise as anti-ICE protests continue in cities across Minnesota.
Earlier this week, Minnesota launched its own lawsuit against the Trump administration.
In a statement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said there’s no reason for federal agents to have a boots-on-the-ground law enforcement presence anywhere in the state.
“This has to stop,” Ellison said. “Let’s be clear: it never should have stated. These agents have no good reason to be here.”
Sources
Justice Department Sues Virginia for Failure to Produce Voter Rolls
United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota’s ‘Affirmative Action’ Regime
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