Black Business Fund Appeal Tests Post-Civil War Law in DEI Cases

A legal advocacy group’s challenge to an Atlanta venture fund’s grants for Black women entrepreneurs could help define the reach of a Civil War-era anti-discrimination statute and the legality of diversity programs spanning employment, education, and more.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Miami will hear arguments Wednesday in the case brought by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, which sued on behalf of three unnamed White and Asian women arguing Fearless Fund Management’s grant contest for Black-women-owned businesses amounts to illegal discrimination under Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

A panel of ...