Affirmative Action

A national leader in the struggle to ensure constitutional equal protection, SLF continues to wage court battles to end illegal race- and gender-preference programs and replace them with legal, productive, corruption-free affirmative action programs. Since 1989, when SLF participated in the landmark City of Richmond v. Croson U.S. Supreme Court decision which established a strict standard of review for affirmative action set-aside programs, we have been at the forefront of every major legal battle since – and we continue to win. From 1992’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in AGC of NE Florida v. City of Jacksonville to eliminating illegal set-aside programs in the City of Atlanta School District, the City of Nashville School District, the DeKalb County, Georgia School District and DeKalb County, Georgia, SLF takes on the tough cases – sometimes under tremendous attack by governments – in order to protect individuals against government-sponsored discrimination.

Consider recent efforts in a challenge against the City of Atlanta’s Minority and Female Business Enterprise (MFBE) program, which mandates that 34 percent of all public contracts must be awarded based on race or gender. Keep in mind that no race-based preference or set-aside program has survived court scrutiny anywhere in America since the landmark Croson case in 1989 – and in June 2001, after two years of struggle, the program is ended by court order. We will continue to challenge illegal and discriminatory government programs in our ongoing battle against overreaching government power over the lives of individuals.