Florida Just Declared Dozens of Racial Preference Schemes Unconstitutional
Florida has ripped the plug on more than 30 state laws that codified racial preferences, announcing they will no longer be recognized or defended in court. Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a sweeping legal opinion that cuts straight to the heart of America’s founding promise: equal protection under law.
“These programs violate both the U.S. Constitution and Florida’s Constitution by setting aside opportunities for non-white citizens,” Uthmeier declared. “Racial discrimination is wrong. It is also unconstitutional.”
Among the struck-down statutes are mandates forcing doctors’ offices to hire and retain minority physicians, and directives requiring the Department of Commerce to promote minority-owned businesses above all others.
Another targeted provision demanded every executive agency craft and implement an “affirmative action plan,” complete with public posting of demographic hiring data to prove compliance.
Florida’s constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment leave no room for race-based state action absent a compelling interest. None of these laws cures a specific past injustice or addresses a real, imminent threat to public safety.
They all fail the Supreme Court’s strict scrutiny test because they lack any sunset clause and block race-neutral alternatives.
Uthmeier zeroed in on another unconstitutional relic: rigid quotas channeling construction, architectural and commodity contracts to blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women. “Any law compelling race-based government contracting is unconstitutional,” he wrote.
He also took aim at outrageous racial quotas on boards and councils—another blatant affront to equal treatment under law.
This decisive action rides the momentum of the Supreme Court’s landmark Students for Fair Admissions decision, which ended race-based admissions at elite universities and ignited a nationwide purge of state-sanctioned racial preferences.
Florida’s move is unapologetically conservative: it restores merit, safeguards fairness and reaffirms that government must never play favorites based on skin color.
No longer will state lawyers defend these discriminatory programs. The opinion draws a clear line: race-based laws have no place in American governance.
Other states committed to true equality should take note and follow Florida’s lead. The era of racial quotas and enforced preferences is over.
Florida has set a national benchmark—equal treatment, unvarnished by racial classifications, is the only path to justice.
