The same conservative activists who helped gut race-related college admissions at the U.S. Supreme Court have now set their sights on
The court's landmark June ruling against
Law firms Morrison & Foerster and Perkins Coie have eliminated their diversity requirements for fellowship programs, a common tool for recruiting from underrepresented groups. The changes were disclosed after both firms were sued by legal activist Edward Blum, a long-time affirmative action foe who brought the successful Supreme Court suit. Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer removed
America First Legal – founded by Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to President Donald Trump – has lodged complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against more than 20 companies, including American Airlines, Macy's, McDonald's and Salesforce, arguing that their efforts to hire and promote more women and people of color amount to discrimination. It's part of a broader conservative-led movement against what some Republican politicians have dubbed "woke capitalism" — corporate policies focused on topics
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"Organizations have to ask themselves 'what is my risk calculus?'" said Samia Kirmani, a co-leader of the corporate diversity practice for employer law firm Jackson Lewis. "There is a risk of challenge, risk of liability, the risk of reputational harm."
The
"You should do it because it's good for your businesses," said Karen Horne, a former DEI executive at Warner Bros. Discovery. "If you're doing it just because you want to feel good and check a box, then you're going to have a reason to not do it when people get 'fatigued' from it."
More than 80% of
Companies have
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Morrison & Foerster says it remains committed to diversity and inclusion. The firm said it had begun the process of revising its fellowship program before being sued by Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights. The group has since dropped its suit, saying it's satisfied the firm's new fellowship will include all law students regardless of race or ethnicity. Perkins Coie, which dropped the diversity requirement from its fellowship after being sued, said it too has a
Blum said in an emailed statement that he has urged other law firms with "similar racially discriminatory programs" to "open their programs to all law students before they are sued in federal court." His group has sent letters to at least three other firms and sued one of them, Winston & Strawn, over diversity fellowships. Winston & Strawn declined to comment.
"We are in the right legally and morally, and this entire cottage industry of discrimination under the guise of 'equity' has created substantial liability for countless major corporations across the United States," Gene Hamilton, general counsel for America First Legal, said in an emailed statement. "No American should suffer from race or sex based discrimination."
Some of the companies sued are not backing down. Hello Alice, which
For real estate company Hines Interests, the possibility of getting sued is still worth it, said Crystal Castille-Cromedy, senior vice president of talent and chief diversity officer. The Houston-based firm doesn't plan to alter its Skyline Scholars program, launched last year to
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"I've not been put in a position to feel as though I'm taking a risk, let alone an undue risk," Castille-Cromedy said. "We at this organization believe first and foremost in meritocracy, but we also know that we have to broaden our reach to understand and to appreciate where talent comes from."
The risk is that
She lost her job at the entertainment studio in June as part of a reorganization, but she doesn't consider her layoff a sign that Warner no longer values DEI. Still, she warns that without a firm commitment,
"I actually believe it's a privilege to be able to say that there's fatigue, because as a Black woman, I don't get the opportunity to have fatigue," she said. "You have to point back to the business benefit of this."