Latest news with #EdwardBlum
Reuters
15-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Southwest Airlines likely to pay 1 cent to end DEI-related lawsuit
May 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge signaled he will order Southwest Airlines (LUV.N), opens new tab to pay 1 cent to end a lawsuit by a conservative group alleging that a now-defunct program awarding free flights to Hispanic college students was discriminatory. U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater on Wednesday rejected a request by Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights to address the merits of its case, after Southwest "unconditionally surrendered" by scrapping its ¡Lánzate! program. Blum has tried for decades to remove racial considerations from parts of American life, including a successful push to essentially end affirmative action in college admissions. U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has made removing diversity, equity and inclusion policies from society a hallmark of his second White House term. Southwest's ¡Lánzate! program had since 2004 provided assistance to 1,500 Hispanic undergraduate and graduate students who lived at least 200 miles (322 km) from campus. Fitzwater said it would waste time and money to keep litigating whether the program violated a Civil War-era law barring racial bias in contracting, because the plaintiff achieved "total victory" after Southwest effectively gave up. "Granting an obstinate plaintiff total victory upon the defendant's unconditional surrender is a reasonable response to the problems and needs confronting the court's fair administration of justice," the Dallas-based judge wrote. Fitzwater gave both sides until May 28 to object. Southwest, based in Dallas, had no immediate comment on Thursday. Lawyers for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to requests for comment. While the plaintiff had sought 1 cent in damages, its lawyers said the case's merits should be addressed because it concerned "issues of substantial public importance" regarding intentional ethnic discrimination by a major company. "Southwest cannot avoid liability by paying the Alliance via a judgment that's not really a judgment, any more than it could avoid liability by paying the Alliance via no judgment," the lawyers wrote. The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v Southwest Airlines Co, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, No. 24-01209.
Reuters
14-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
ABA sued over diversity scholarships by conservative group
April 14 (Reuters) - A prominent conservative group sued the American Bar Association on Saturday, alleging that a scholarship program meant to boost the number of racially and ethnically diverse law students is discriminatory. In a complaint, opens new tab filed in an Illinois federal court, the American Alliance for Equal Rights — led by anti-affirmative action activist Edward Blum — alleged that the ABA's 25-year-old Legal Opportunity Scholarship discriminates against white applicants because they are ineligible to apply. 'The goal of this lawsuit is not to eliminate ABA's scholarships but to ensure they are based on legitimate criteria, such as financial need or merit, rather than race,' Blum said in an announcement of the lawsuit. An ABA spokesperson declined to comment on Monday about the Alliance's lawsuit. But the organization said in a Monday statement that it 'remains dedicated to eliminating bias and enhancing diversity and promoting full and equal participation in the justice system, the association, and the legal profession by all persons.' Updates to the ABA's programs will remain consistent with those goals and will ensure all members who share these objectives have an opportunity to participate, the statement said. The ABA is the nation's largest voluntary bar association, with about 150,000 dues-paying members. The Alliance said it is representing an unnamed white male law school applicant who would apply for the $15,000 Legal Opportunity Scholarship were he eligible. The ABA awards between 20 and 25 such scholarships annually to incoming law students, according to its website. The Alliance's lawsuit comes amid a wider push against diversity and inclusion efforts in the legal profession and beyond. A different group founded by Blum brought the case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ban on affirmative action in college and university admissions. The Alliance in 2024 sued law firms Winston & Strawn, Perkins Coie, and Morrison & Foerster over their diversity fellowship programs. Blum later dropped all three lawsuits after the firms altered their application criteria. The ABA in October revised the criteria for its Judicial Clerkship Program, which encourages judges to hire diverse law clerks, to eliminate references to minority students and 'communities of color.' The ABA made that change after a different conservative legal group, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, filed a complaint against the ABA with the U.S. Department of Education in May 2024 and threatened further legal action, alleging that the ABA was illegally discriminating by using racial quotas. Affirmative action opponent drops case over Winston & Strawn's diversity fellowship
