Black Democrats blast AG Uthmeier’s attack on affirmative action

Rep. RaShon Young, D-Orlando, said the issue wasn’t the attorney general, but about “sounding the alarm” for everyone who will be affected if the programs are eliminated. Credit: Screenshot via RaShon Young/Facebook

Three days after Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day by declaring in an advisory legal opinion that more than 80 state laws aimed at protecting minority employees and businesses are no longer valid, Black Democratic lawmakers protested during a press conference in the rotunda of the state Capitol on Thursday.

Uthmeier declared that those laws violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. “Florida laws requiring race-based state action are presumptively unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment,” he said in a social media post announcing the opinion.

In addition, he disparaged what he described as race-based quotas in Florida hiring practices and stipulations for minority representation on different boards, councils, and other panels.

“For many of us, this doesn’t feel like a neutral, legal interpretation, and more like an attack that history matters. That policy can be a tool to correct past and ongoing harm,” said Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.

AG advisory opinions don’t carry the force of law, unless ratified by a court, but can guide government policy.

The lawmakers want their Republican colleagues in the Legislature who filed bills to codify what Uthmeier is calling for to withdraw them. Among those bills are SB 1662, filed by Stan McClain, R-Ocala, and its close House companion, HB 1189, by Rep. Judson Sapp, R-Green Cove Springs.

McClain’s bill would prohibit executive government agencies from using racial or gender preferences or quotas when making certain decisions. Sapp’s measure would remove provisions requiring the governor to consider appointees to certain commissions reflecting Florida’s racial, ethnic, and gender diversity, and prohibit executive agencies from considering racial or gender preferences or quotas when making hiring decisions. Neither has been heard yet in committee.

“Y’all, we cannot let these bills become law,” said Sen. LaVon Bracy, D-Ococee. “And we are counting on every member of this Legislature to ensure that they do not. Because we cannot claim to honor Dr. King on Monday and dismantle his legacy on Thursday.”

Among the agencies the lawmakers say could removed if Uthmeier’s opinion were adopted include the Office of Minority Health, the Office of Supplier Development, as well housing and community development programs and representation on state boards and commissions.

“Let’s make clear: Health disparities are documented realities, not mere political opinions,” said Rep. Marie Woodson, D-Hollywood. “The statistics tell a stark story. Blacks and Indians face significantly higher maternal mortality rates. Minority communities consistently experience worst health outcomes that are significant indicators. These are not just statistics. It’s a matter of life and death.”

To Sen. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, Uthmeier’s’ unilateral declaration is tantamount to disobeying the law that he is enforced to uphold. Bernard called upon Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend him, as the governor did to Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren in 2022 after alleging Warren had said that he would refuse to prosecute non-violent offenders or enforce criminal penalties against doctors providing abortions or gender-affirming care.

“If the attorney general does not want to follow the laws that we have passed, I’m declaring that I think that the governor should remove him today,” said Bernard. “He is not a judge. He is just part of the executive branch, and the executive branch needs to do what they’re supposed to do. … [I]f he does not want to follow the laws? Then guess what? We need to remove him immediately.”

Rep. RaShon Young, D-Orlando, said the issue wasn’t the attorney general, but about “sounding the alarm” for everyone who will be affected if the programs are eliminated.

“For Black Floridians and brown Floridians, and women and immigrants and poor and working-class families and first-generation students, for small businesses owners and Black-owned business trying to survive and grow,” he said. “For children who depend on programs that give them access to college information opportunity.”

While the state is now threatening to remove decades-old programs intended to support minorities, some municipalities in Florida have already removed such programs in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion announced at the beginning of his second term a year ago.

Rouson suggested that instead there should be an independent study by the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (a research arm of the Legislature) to determine which state programs are still needed, particularly in areas like disparity and access to healthcare.

Uthmeier, 37, has never been elected to any political office. The former chief of staff to DeSantis, the governor appointed him to replace Ashley Moody as AG a year ago. Although there was speculation he might receive a challenge in the Republican primary later this summer, those possibilities appeared to expire after Trump endorsed him in his election bid last year.

José Javier Rodriguez, Uthmeier’s likely Democratic opponent this fall, blasted the opinion earlier in the week.

“It is troubling that our Florida Attorney General has chosen, of all days, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day to announce an effort to undermine civil rights,” he said in a written statement. “Equal protection has never meant ignoring discrimination, it means confronting it. This kind of politicization of the Attorney General’s office is exactly what Floridians are tired of.”

The same day that Uthmeier issued his advisory opinion, Texas AG Ken Paxton issued an advisory opinion asserting that “decades’ worth of DEI frameworks” embedded in Texas law are unconstitutional.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

Along with the legislation listed above, additional bills filed in the Florida Legislature this session aim to cut DEI programs or funding. They include:

HB 1001 (filed by Rep. Dean Black, R-Jacksonville): Would prohibit counties and municipalities from funding or promoting official actions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
SB 1090 (filed by Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach): Would prohibit public schools, school districts, and charter schools from spending state or federal funds to promote or maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
HB 1329 (filed by Rep. Yvette Benarroch, R-Marco Island): Would prohibit local governments from using public funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion purposes, and prohibit them from contracting with private vendors for training or education on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

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