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* Crain’s in January…
Activist Edward Blum is targeting another diversity effort in Illinois, this time suing over a new state law that requires many nonprofit organizations to publicly disclose aggregate data about race, gender and other demographics of their board members and officers. […]
The new suit was filed today in the U.S. District Court in Chicago against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and other state officials. It targets SB 2930, which was sponsored by state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last July. The law took effect Jan. 1.
Under the law, qualifying charitable groups must ask their directors and officers to provide demographic information, including their “race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.” The groups must disclose the aggregate demographic data on their websites for at least three years.
The suit takes issue with the law’s reliance on Illinois Department of Human Rights demographic classifications, particularly on race. (The state agency uses the same racial classifications as the federal government, the suit says.)
You can view the complaint here.
* Yesterday, the Trump administration filed to join Blum’s legal challenge. Crain’s…
“The United States cannot and will not sit idly while a state denies its citizens equal protection under the guise of diversity,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a written statement after the Department of Justice filed a motion to intervene in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Bennett. […]
The Justice Department, in a court filing Tuesday, said, “This encouragement by the state of Illinois for nonprofits to discriminate on the basis of race when selecting directors and officers is forbidden by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and there is no diversity exception to this.”
The filing cites a comment by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, when he signed the measure, that the reporting and posting requirements are “to encourage nonprofits to reflect the diversity of the communities they support.”
The Justice Department joins Blum’s group in asking the federal court to declare the Illinois law in violation of the U.S. Constitution and to enjoin it.
Click here for Tuesday’s filing and click here for AG Bondi’s press release.
posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 10:57 am
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I’m not a legal scholar by any means, but I’m not sure how requiring the aggregate reporting of demographic information for public consumption without any requirement that they actually take action to diversity their boards any violation of the U.S. Constitution. What “denial of equal protection” is supposedly happening here?
Comment by Leap Day William Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 11:27 am
Not sure what “radical gender/racial ideology” that Pam is talking about. Its always the R’s that obsess about this! Geez, demographic data has been collected for ages.
If Pammy applied for a job at a not-for-profit and they said they dont hire “honkies” thats discrimination.
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 11:39 am
OK DOJ wants to block efforts to i.d. NFP directors, but Trump tax writers are very actively trying revoke tax break for NFPs. But hey who says there is a need for consistency
Comment by Annonin' Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 12:03 pm
==The mere thought of collecting the data is a “violation of constitutional rights” in the minds of the maggot folks.==
Unless it’s to register non-citizens or pregnant women.
This is to try and make it even harder for anyone to hire non-white non-male non-straight non-able bodied/minded people if there is even a hint that a white straight male might want the job. Make enough examples of states and companies and others will bend the knee.
==The suit takes issue with the law’s reliance on Illinois Department of Human Rights demographic classifications, particularly on race. (The state agency uses the same racial classifications as the federal government, the suit says.)== If the state uses the same definition as you, the feds, -why are you upset over it-?
Comment by BE Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 12:13 pm
They’ve got a lot of cheek wrapping themselves in the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment when they all accept as holy writ a mere decree purportedly nullifying the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
Comment by Nick Name Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 12:38 pm
A labor union is a nonprofit organization. Can’t wait to see the demographics of the plumbers union leadership.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 1:13 pm
Thank you Nick. Presidential Executive Orders do not negate Constitutional Amendments. Maybe somebody needs to show some members of the administration pertinent episodes of Schoolhouse Rock.
Comment by Jerry Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 1:59 pm
More performative DEI regs. Is the next step to not allow NPO’s unless they have all the “right” people?
Comment by Center Drift Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 2:08 pm
===Is the next step===
Um, no. That cannot be done. Take a breath already.
The lawsuit is about current law. Stick to that.
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 2:13 pm
I’m a liberal but I gotta tell you, this law is weird. First of all, it’s overstep for the state to force a non-profit to ask this of their board. If a non-profit doesn’t want to diversify - well, that’s on them. It’s dumb, but then leave that to their donors to look at their board & say “oh it’s all white men. No thanks.” Secondly, what about socio-economic diversity? Or age diversity? There are other kinds of diversity than race (and does the law account for people who are of more than one or two or three “races”?). Leave it to non-profits to determine how to diversify and leave it to their donors to determine if they’ve done it well. State legislators over-stepping is a theme in this state and as much as I love our super majority for many reasons, they need to cut it out. How many non-profits did they talk to before running this bill? My guess is not very many. Typical.
Comment by NotYourGramma Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 4:54 pm
In 2022, Jenner and Block warned clients about racial quotas on boards.
https://tinyurl.com/2zrk37wr
Comment by Steve Wednesday, Mar 5, 25 @ 7:02 pm