Earlier this week, a federal judge ruled that the City of Houston’s Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise Program is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner barred the city from using racial preferences to award certain public contracts, ruling the program violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
The ruling comes after a yearslong battle, which started when two Spring-based landscaping companies sued Houston over its use of racial preferences in municipal contracting.
Landscape Consultants of Texas and Metropolitan Landscape Management filed the lawsuit in 2023, claiming that the city’s contracting policies violated the 14th Amendment by placing nonminority-owned businesses at a competitive disadvantage.
This month, Judge Hittner ruled in the companies’ favor, declaring the race-conscious portion of the program is unconstitutional.
“The racially discriminatory aspect of Defendant Midtown Management District’s Minority, Women, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is declared unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the ruling read. “Defendant Midtown Management District is permanently enjoined from administering the race-conscious portion of its Minority, Women, and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program or using similar racial preferences in the award of public contracts.”
Following Tuesday’s ruling, Houston City Attorney Arturo Michel said the city is evaluating whether to appeal.
“The City recognizes that the court relied on recent United States Supreme Court decisions,” Michel said in a statement. “The decision does not affect other programs, such as the City’s Small Business Enterprise Program. The City will abide by the court’s decision regarding existing contracts and recently awarded contracts pending any further court order.”
Democrat U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee, who represents Houston, criticized the decision, calling it “another step by far-right activists, like the lawyers who filed this case, fighting to erase every tool minority and women business owners use to compete on a level playing field.”
“They’ve fought to end diversity programs in our colleges, at corporations, and in government contracts,” Menefee added. “It’s a shame, and The Supreme Court of the United States has cleared the way for it to happen in ending affirmative action and gutting the Voting Rights Act.”
