New York University Law School Gets Sued for Law Review Discrimination

Do you remember when the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 created a $28.6 billion fund called the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, to help restaurants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Do you also remember that the fund prioritized grants to businesses owned by women and minorities (and veterans) before dispensing money to owners outside these classifications?

A legal firm called America First Legal (AFL) filed a discrimination lawsuit on behalf of a restaurant, and a judge temporarily halted the program.

AFL has continued to file lawsuits against corporations, government agencies, and universities to stop discrimination in admissions, hiring, training, and promotions. The organization has warned employers with so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies that they could be sued.

In a recent case, AFL filed a class action lawsuit against Progressive Insurance for offering $25,000 grants to 10 black-owned small businesses to buy commercial vehicles. White-owned small business owners were ineligible.

Last week, AFL filed another class action lawsuit on behalf of a first-year law student and others against New York University law school for discriminating on the basis of race and sex when selecting members and editors for the law review.

Despite the Supreme Court striking down racial preferences in admissions, AFL said, the school’s law review “continues to boast on its website that it seeks a ‘diverse staff of editors.'”

The NYU Law Review continues to subordinate academic merit when selecting students for membership and editorial positions, and it continues to award these coveted positions to lesser qualified women, non-Asian racial minorities, and homosexual and transgender individuals at the expense of white and Asian men with better academic records.

Federal law bars such discrimination, but colleges and universities continue to discriminate against individuals based on sex and race. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed the unconstitutionality of such practices, but schools continue to discriminate.

“Any student or faculty member who has evidence of these illegal and discriminatory practices should reach out to us,” said Gene Hamilton, America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel. “We will sue any law school that continues to employ these odious and anti-meritocratic practices or thinks that it can evade the commands of federal anti-discrimination law.”

Photo credit: Razlan (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved

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