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A massive new spending bill that violates constitutional rights protects $37 billion for small businesses owned by certain minorities and women.
The news: Florida small business owner Christian Bruckner filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration today, challenging the unconstitutional race and gender quotas in the new $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure law. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Act”) signed by President Biden in November 2021 contains $37 billion in new spending for minority- and women-owned small businesses alone.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), an initiative of the Law Project, filed a lawsuit on Bruckner’s behalf, alleging that the statute’s racial and gender quotas violate the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
The quotes are: “All Americans should have the opportunity to compete on an equal playing field,” said Will President and General Counsel Rick Isenberg. But now Congress and the Biden administration have trampled on this basic principle by giving tens of billions in special treatment to small businesses based on race and gender. “This illegal discrimination must stop.”
Small business owner and plaintiff Christian Bruckner said: “New infrastructure should be open to all small businesses, not based on race or gender, but based on ability to do the job. If President Biden really wants to help struggling small business owners, he needs to help new businesses struggling to survive or small business owners with disabilities like me. But helping groups based on race and gender is unfair. I expect a lot from my government.”
Background: In the year The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021, earmarks $1.2 trillion for new infrastructure projects. As part of this legislation, Congress authorized $370 billion in spending on roads, bridges and other transportation projects. But the law contains a quota requiring at least 10% of the funding ($37 billion) to go to small businesses owned by “socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.”
Federal laws define “socially disadvantaged” as the following racial or ethnic groups: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, or subcontinental Asian Americans. And women are considered “social and economic problems”. Small businesses owned by men who are not in these preferred racial groups cannot compete for this money. This includes not only businesses owned by whites, but also men whose ancestors came from many countries in Central and South America, North Africa, the Middle East, and North and West Asia.
Christian Bruckner He is an immigrant and disabled small business owner from Tampa, Florida. His parents fled communist Romania in the 1970s and Because of his race (although he is a Romanian immigrant, he is not eligible) and his gender (men are not eligible), Bruckner was unable to compete for the $37 billion infrastructure contract.
The charge: The United States Constitution prohibits the government from engaging in discrimination based on race or sex. If the government engages in racial discrimination, it is subject to “strict scrutiny,” meaning that the government has the burden of proving that the measures are narrowly tailored to racial discrimination. In the case of gender discrimination, the government must provide “overwhelmingly convincing” proof and prove that “the discriminatory means employed are substantially related to the achievement of the objectives.”
Will’s case is that the racial classifications in the Constitution are unconstitutional because they violate the equal protection guarantee of the United States Constitution. Racial classifications are not tailored to meet a mandatory government requirement. Similarly, sex-based classifications are also unconstitutional and not supported by a very compelling purpose, and the discriminatory means employed are not substantially related to the achievement of that purpose.
The suit urges the court to issue a preliminary injunction, declaring that race- and gender-based classifications in the infrastructure code are unconstitutional, and a permanent injunction barring the federal government from implementing race- and gender-based classifications in infrastructure. law, and award attorney’s fees.
The lawsuit is part of Will’s Equity under the Law project. In the year The Equality Under Law Project, which launched in 2021, represented 42 clients in 17 states and sued the Biden administration for racial discrimination twice in the Farm Loan Forgiveness Program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. The bill calls for eliminating race-based preferences in the Homeowner Assistance Fund, another program in the Saving America Plan Act of 2021. This is the project’s first lawsuit against a program under the bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which contains billions in racial appropriations. . More information about this project is available at DefendEquality.org.
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