A federal judge has recently blocked a portion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) program that assists women and minority farmers with disaster relief. The decision was based on allegations from white male farmers who argue that the policy discriminates against them and violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.
The USDA, according to the judge’s ruling, cannot provide disaster relief to farmers based on the agency’s “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” designation, which distributes a greater share of federal relief money to non-white, male farmers. The plaintiffs argue that they were denied USDA relief funding when they applied because of their sex or race.
Race-based and sex-based government classifications go against the Fifth Amendment unless they are narrow in scope and can serve the government’s interest, as stated by the judge. The judge declared that “race-based classifications are presumptively unconstitutional,” and added that the USDA has to be able first to demonstrate that favoring one race over another is used to ‘further compelling government interests.
The USDA rules sometimes provide more relief to minorities and women without showing whether or not it’s actually needed, according to Judge Kacsmaryk. He also noted that the policy will “deny additional aid to farmers not of the USDA’s preferred races who are in danger of financial ruin.
This ruling comes after the U.S. Supreme Court last June rejected race-based admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, effectively prohibiting affirmative action policies that had been used for decades in colleges across the United States. In a majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the two colleges’ programs “cannot be reconciled with the guarantees of the Equal Protection Clause” of the Constitution.
The Southeastern Legal Foundation, Mountain States Legal Foundation, and Tormey & McConnell Attorneys represent the farmers in this lawsuit.