An Atlanta-based venture capital firm’s grant program that is exclusively available to businesses owned by black women was blocked by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in a Saturday injunction that prevents funds being dispersed for the “racially exclusionary” grant program.
The 11th Circuit voted 2-1 to grant the injunction requested by the non-profit American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a project of conservative legal strategist Edward Blum, which is suing the venture capital Fearless Fund over its race-based Fearless Strivers Grant.
To apply for the Fearless Strivers Grant, a business must be at least 51 percent owned by black women, and those selected for the grant receive a $20,000 from the venture capital firm. Submissions were required to be completed by September 30.
In their ruling, the panel of judges determined Blum’s group “established that the defendants’ racially exclusionary program” is “substantially likely” to violate Section 1981 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, the post-Civil War law that prohibits race-based discrimination in contracts, and barred the group from dispersing funds pending further court decisions.
Though a lower court ruled the First Amendment allowed for the race-based grant last week, U.S. Circuit Judges Robert Luck and Andrew Basher determined the First Amendment “does not give the defendants the rights to exclude patrons from a contractual regime based on race.” Both Luck and Basher were appointed by former President Donald Trump.
Blum said AAER was “gratified” the court “recognized the likelihood the Fearless Strivers Grant Contest is illegal,” while the Freedom Fund said it intended to continue fighting the case
Fearless Fund previously argued Blum’s group was attempting “to turn a seminal civil rights statue on its head” by using the Civil War-era law which was originally written to prohibit discrimination against black people.
Prominent lawyers and activists, including including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, and activist Al Sharpton, have gathered to defend Fearless Fund. Sharpton, while traveling to Georgia to support Fearless Fund, warned Blum’s group was “responsible for ending affirmative action in college admissions” before setting its sights on Georgia.
After securing that victory earlier this year, Blum told The New York Times he intended to continue funding cases alleging racial discrimination, citing his belief “that an individual’s race and ethnicity should not be used to help them or harm them in their life’s endeavors.”
“You cannot remedy past discrimination with new discrimination,” he told the outlet to explain his views on anti-black discrimination. “That cannot be how a multiracial, multi-ethnic nation maintains its social fabric.”
U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton, dissented from the majority ruling, arguing the 1866 Civil Rights Act was only designed to prevent white people from discriminating against black people.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Georgia Star News and a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
