Filed Date: March 25, 2025
Closed Date: May 1, 2025
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In this case, two non-profits challenged state statutes requiring racial diversity on certain state licensing boards.
On March 25, 2025, two advocacy organizations—Do No Harm (DNH) and the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR)—filed suit against the Arkansas Governor in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation and private counsel. The case was assigned to District Judge Lee P. Rudofsky.
The case arose from two Arkansas statutes that required the Governor to consider race or ethnicity when making appointments to two state licensing boards. The plaintiffs alleged that these statutes violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The complaint targeted two Arkansas state boards: the Occupational Therapy Examining Committee and the Board of Examiners in Counseling. For both boards, Arkansas law mandated that at least one board member be a racial or ethnic minority. DNH and FAIR contended that these requirements prevented some of their members—who are white—from receiving equal consideration for appointment.
The complaint asserted four causes of action through 42 U.S.C. § 1983: that the statutory racial and ethnic mandates violate the US. Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause (Counts I and III) and the Citizenship Clause (Counts II and IV). DNH and FAIR sought a declaratory judgment that the statutes violate the U.S. Constitution, a permanent injunction forbidding Arkansas from enforcing the statutes, and attorneys’ fees.
On April 21, 2025, Arkansas enacted a law removing racial diversity mandates on state boards. As a result, DNH and FAIR voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit on May 1, 2025. No decision on the merits was issued and the case is now closed.
Summary Authors
Gordon Pignato (5/9/2025)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69789404/parties/do-no-harm-v-sanders/
Hyman, William Whitfield (Arkansas)
Jennings, Jeffrey Daniel (Arkansas)
Trotter, Caleb R. (Arkansas)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69789404/do-no-harm-v-sanders/
Last updated July 2, 2025, 11:19 p.m.