AG Ken Paxton Issues Landmark Legal Opinion on DEI in Texas
"The opinion declares decades' worth of DEI frameworks unconstitutional..."
Yesterday, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion that notes that private companies engaging in DEI practices in Texas are exposing themselves to legal liability under state and federal law.
Previously, Texas had allowed Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) certifications in Texas. The HUB program has smothered every political subdivision in the state under a layer of bureaucratic discrimination targeting one group: white males. The program gave special preference in government contracts to anyone who wasn’t a white man.
In some cases, even Thai billionaires received DEI preference for no reason other than the fact that they weren’t white men.
Current Revolt has covered the HUB program and it’s consequences extensively for years.
In October of last year, acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced the suspension of HUB certifications in Texas:
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s opinion specifically notes that DEI programs like the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program force consideration of race and sex on state boards, commissions, and committees. AG Paxton’s opinion states that the policies from this would not survive constitutional review.
Additionally, AG Paxton alleges the AG office’s new legal opinion overruled former Texas AG John Cornyn’s legal opinion that did not address DEI’s faults and illegalities.
Cornyn shot back at this claim on X:
