Legal Insurrection by William A. Jacobson 11/9/2024
The Equal Protection Project fought the good fight, but always knew it was an uphill battle. Misleading marketing of the amendment by the Democrat and leftist-NGO machinery in a deep blue state using the Trojan Horse of protecting abortion and misleading ballot language made passage all but certain.
EPP announced its opposition in mid-April 2024, Equal Protection Project Opposes Proposed DEI Amendment to the NY State Constitution:
Under Paragraph B, discrimination becomes a NY State constitutional right provided the discrimination is “designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination.” This embeds what is commonly referred to as “reverse discrimination” into the NY State Constitution. Discrimination against certain groups in order to protect other groups would be exempt from the sweeping protections of the current constitution and Paragraph A of the Amendment. Arguably, this would mean that the NY and NYC Human Rights Laws would be preempted merely by claiming the motivation was to “dismantle discrimination.”
The exemption under Paragraph B would severely damage efforts at fighting discrimination. It would create a loophole allowing persons engaging in objectively discriminatory programs and practices to claim that the motivation was to “dismantle discrimination.” This is the language of Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and would create a DEI exception to the anti-discrimination laws in NY State. Such ideologies have no place in the NY Constitution, and are contrary to our tradition of protecting individuals from invidious discrimination based on immutable characteristics….
Accordingly, the Equal Protection Project opposes this ballot initiative.
Our voice was recognized by The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, which joined the issue:
One other Prop. 1 alarm: It provides that “nothing in this section shall invalidate or prevent the adoption of any law, regulation, program, or practice that is designed to prevent or dismantle discrimination.” The Legislature said this line “protects the validity of efforts to prevent or dismantle structural forms of inequality.” This sounds like a cover for programs like the slavery reparations commission the state launched this year, or other racial preferences. Cornell law professor William Jacobson warned in April that this language could “create a DEI exception to the anti-discrimination laws.”
Kemberlee and I wrote an Op-Ed for the NY Post:
New York state’s Proposition One, the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” on the ballot this Election Day, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing — one that will destroy fundamental civil rights under the guise of protecting them.
More: [urlhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2024/11/reverse-discrimination-and-dei-now-part-of-ny-state-constitution-as-proposition-1-passes/][/url]
