California court blocks state-mandated diversity quotas for corporate boards

The California Court of Appeals has upheld two injunctions against state-mandated diversity quotas on corporate boards.

California had previously required that corporations hire at least one director to fulfill a quota based on categories such as sex, race or sexual orientation. Two injunctions were issued by trial courts after they found that the law was unconstitutional.

The California secretary of State requested that the appellate court reject the injunctions, but they did they rejected the request and sided with the lower courts decision.

Conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch has filed multiple lawsuits against the state, in response to a 2018 law requiring that every public corporation based in California reserve a seat on its board of directors for a woman, or at least someone “who self-identifies her gender as a woman.”

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom later updated the law to require that California companies follow “racial, ethnicity, sexual preference and transgender status quotas” on their board of directors. Judicial Watch filed another lawsuit in response to this.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton praised the appeals court’s ruling, saying: “The California courts again have upheld the core American value of equal protection under the law.”

He added, “Judicial Watch’s taxpayer clients are heroes for standing up for civil rights against the Left’s pernicious efforts to undo anti-discrimination protections. Judicial Watch’s legal team has helped protect the civil rights of every American with these successful lawsuits.”