Judge denies Feds attempt to limit DBE injunction

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Officials with The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) says the firm has secured a significant victory, a court order clarifying and significantly expanding the scope of a preliminary injunction halting the federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program.

The ruling now applies nationwide to any state in which WILL’s clients do business, according to firm officials.

According to WILL, in September, the Court ordered the United States Department of Transportation to stop using race and gender preferences that allegedly discriminate against Mid-America Milling Company (MAMCO) and Bagshaw Trucking.

“WILL understood the Court’s ruling to apply to its clients in every state in which WILL’s clients do business. Yet the federal government refused to fully comply with the injunction, seeking instead to arbitrarily limit the ruling to the states of Kentucky and Indiana,” counsel for WILL said.

According to WILL, the Court’s new order clarifies that the federal government was wrong, and the discriminatory preferences are unconstitutional wherever WILL’s clients bid on highway projects. In practice, many other firms stand to gain from this ruling, since the order applies to all federally funded projects that MAMCO and Bagshaw bid on.

According to court documents obtained by the Wisconsin Law Journal, WILL’s Motion to Clarify was granted by the court and “The United States Department of Transportation, Peter Buttigieg, Shailen Bhatt, Todd Jeter, and any successors in office, are ENJOINED from mandating the use of race- and gender-based rebuttable presumptions for United States Department of Transportation contracts impacted by DBE goals upon which the Plaintiffs bid, to be effective in any state in which Plaintiffs operate or bid on such contracts.”

“We are thrilled that the federal judge confirmed our understanding of its ruling to give our clients the relief they deserve and again blocked the federal government from unlawfully discriminating against our clients. In practice, the door to government contracting will open not only for our clients, but also for other firms. The DBE program’s days of sanctioning racial and gender discrimination are dwindling,” said WILL Associate Counsel, Cara Tolliver.

The Wisconsin Law Journal requested comment from the U.S. Department of Transportation. No response was received prior to publication.