{"id":2016199,"date":"2023-08-29T22:55:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T02:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-ags-warn-law-firms-to-drop-race-quota-programs-after-scotus-affirmative-action-ruling\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T22:57:06","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T02:57:06","slug":"republican-ags-warn-law-firms-to-drop-race-quota-programs-after-scotus-affirmative-action-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-ags-warn-law-firms-to-drop-race-quota-programs-after-scotus-affirmative-action-ruling\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican AGs urge law firms to abandon race-quota programs following SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublican-ags-warn-law-firms-to-drop-race-quota-programs-after-scotus-affirmative-action-ruling%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2016199&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<h2>Republican Attorneys General Warn Law Firms\u200c Against\u2062 Race-Based Hiring Practices<\/h2>\n<p>A group of\u200d five Republican state attorneys\u200c general issued a letter to \u2062top law firms throughout\u200d the United States on Tuesday,\u200c warning them to discontinue any programs to hire, retain, or\u200d promote individuals based on \u2063their race.<\/p>\n<p>Montana\u200c Attorney General Austin Knudsen organized the letter (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ntd.com\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/08\/id938900-Letter_to_AM_100_Law_Firms_re_Race_Discrimination_Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>), which is directed at managing partners, chairs, and CEOs of American Lawyer \u200b(Am Law) 100 Firms, and \u2062warns against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-ags-warn-law-firms-to-drop-race-quota-programs-after-scotus-affirmative-action-ruling\/\" title=\"Republican AGs urge law firms to abandon race-quota programs following SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action.\">race-based human resource \u2063practices<\/a>. Arkansas Attorney\u200c General Tim \u2064Griffin, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron also signed\u200b onto the letter.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;We, the undersigned Attorneys\u2064 General of five States, issue this public letter to \u200bremind you of your obligations as an employer under \u2063federal and\u200c state law. Specifically, you owe a duty to\u200c refrain from discriminating \u200don the basis of race, whether under the label of &#8216;diversity, equity, and \u200dinclusion,&#8217;\u2064 or otherwise,&#8221; the letter begins. &#8220;Put simply, differential treatment based on\u2063 race and\u200d skin color, even for \u2063purportedly &#8216;benign&#8217; purposes, is unlawful, divisive, and exposes your firm \u2062to serious\u2063 legal consequences,\u200b including\u2063 potentially fines, damages, and \u2064injunctive relief.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"shortcode\">\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related Stories<\/div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/infographic-the-path-to-ending-affirmative-action-5437497\">INFOGRAPHIC: The Path to Ending Affirmative Action<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">8\/1\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/opinion\/following-affirmative-actions-demise-slay-the-dei-leviathan-5414573\">Following Affirmative\u2064 Action\u2019s Demise, Slay the DEI \u200cLeviathan<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">7\/21\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The warning letter comes after the U.S. Supreme Court&#8217;s decision\u200c in Students for\u2063 Fair Admissions \u200cv. Harvard (SFFA). The Supreme Court ruled 6\u20133 to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/supreme-court-strikes-down-affirmative-action-policies-at-us-colleges-5363356\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">strike down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/just-in-supreme-court-will-hear-cases-challenging-race-based-affirmative-action\/\" title=\"JUST IN: Supreme Court Will Hear Cases Challenging Race-Based Affirmative Action\">race-based affirmative action policies<\/a><\/a> used in\u200d college\u2064 admissions practices.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not entirely clear exactly which Am Law 100 Firms employ race-based human resource practices. The letter \u2064from the five\u200d Republican attorneys general does state, however, that such practices &#8220;may be commonplace among \u2064AM Law 100 firms and other large businesses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hundreds of law \u2062firms, including many of you, have\u2064 sought and achieved a certification under \u200bthe so-called Mansfield Rule, which asserts that its goal is to correct the perceived &#8216;imbalance&#8217; of law firm leadership not &#8216;reflect[ing] the diversity of the workforce or society,'&#8221; \u2064the\u200c letter states.<\/p>\n<p>The Mansfield Rule \u200bpertains to a diversity certification that law firms can\u2063 obtain. The\u2064 Mansfield Rule certification\u2064 is administered by Diversity Lab and is awarded to law firms that can demonstrate that at least 30 percent of the people they consider for company leadership roles are women, people of color, LGBT individuals, and individuals\u2062 with disabilities. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mofo.com\/resources\/news\/210914-mansfield-certification-plus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Some law\u200b firms<\/a> \u200d have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shearman.com\/en\/news-and-events\/news\/2022\/10\/shearman-once-again-named-mansfield-certified-plus-for-diversity-and-inclusion-efforts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">also touted<\/a> &#8220;Mansfield \u200dPlus Certifications,&#8221; claiming they not only considered but reached diversity benchmarks in selecting people to fill various company roles.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These \u2063programs \u2062were already questionable before the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in SFFA; now,\u200d they are unambiguously in tension with \u2063employer legal duties under state and federal law,&#8221;\u2062 reads the letter\u2062 from the five Republican attorneys general. &#8220;Indeed, American Bar Association President Mary Smith recognized \u200dthat &#8216;[i]n \u200bthe \u2064wake of the Supreme Court decision in [SFFA], the legal profession needs to review its programs and identify ways to comply with the law.&#8217;\u2063 Yet despite employing \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/megyn-kelly-sends-warning-to-heads-of-schools-shoving-critical-race-theory-down-the-throats-of-their-students\/\" title=\"Megyn Kelly Sends Warning To Heads Of Schools Shoving \u2018Critical Race Theory Down The Throats Of Their Students\u2019\">race-based policies<\/a> and programs, some law firms have opted to flout\u200d the law, and indicated \u200cthey were preparing\u2062 to continue their \u200befforts regardless of the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling in SFFA.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>NTD News reached out to Diversity Lab\u200b for comment about how it\u200c handles Mansfield Rule certifications, \u200bin light of the Supreme Court decision in SFFA v. Harvard. Diversity Lab\u200d did not respond by\u200c the time this\u2063 article \u2062was published.<\/p>\n<p>NTD News also reached out to American Lawyer Media (ALM), which \u200coversees the \u200cAm Law 100 Firm rankings. ALM also\u2064 did not respond by the time this article was published.<\/p>\n<h2>Employers On \u2064Notice After \u2063Supreme Court Case<\/h2>\n<p>In the\u2063 two months since \u200bthe \u200cdecision in SFFA v. Harvard, activists\u2064 opposed to affirmative \u200caction policies have warned other sectors of society that certain \u2062race-based policies \u2064could \u200dcome under scrutiny. In July, Mr. \u200bKnudsen and 12 other Republican attorneys general sent a letter \u200c(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tn.gov\/content\/dam\/tn\/attorneygeneral\/documents\/pr\/2023\/pr23-27-letter.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>) \u200dto the\u2064 CEOs of the various Fortune 100 companies, warning that any race-based human\u2063 resource policies they have could face legal challenges.<\/p>\n<p>Last week, conservative legal activist Edward Blum <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/activist-who-upended-race-based-college-admissions-now-challenging-legal-fellowship-programs-5478675\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">filed a pair of lawsuits<\/a> against \u200binternational law firms Perkins\u2064 Coie LLP and Morrison &#038; Foerster LLP. Mr. Blum fo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to US law firms, cautioning against race-based hiring, retention, or promotion programs. Led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the letter targets managing partners, chairs, and CEOs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1759,"featured_media":2016200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1759"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2016199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2016199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2016200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2016199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2016199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2016199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}