Joint Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

MEDIA CONTACT: 

MEDIA CONTACT: 

Jenny Kefauver 

(703) 850-3533 

Southeastern Legal Foundation 

MSLF & SLF REPRESENT FARMERS SUING USDA OVER DISCRIMINATORY RELIEF PROGRAMS 

The US Department of Agriculture unconstitutionally gives more disaster relief to non-Caucasian and female farmers than their white and male counterparts.

AMARILLO, TX (April 8, 2024)—On behalf of Texas farmers, Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) joined Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) to file a motion for preliminary injunction in federal court to stop the Biden Administration Department of Agriculture (USDA) from unconstitutionally and unlawfully funneling disaster and pandemic relief funds to certain farmers based on race and sex. 

Farming is a difficult livelihood. One of the biggest hurdles that farmers face is unpredictable weather conditions that can destroy their crops. So Congress frequently provides relief to hard-hit producers and regions. Since 2020, Congress has allocated over $25 billion in emergency disaster and pandemic relief funds for USDA to distribute to farmers. But rather than help farmers like Plaintiffs Alan and Amy West, Bryan Baker, and Rusty Strickland—who have owned their family farms for decades, and who have suffered from the effects of droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic—USDA is harming them by favoring other producers at their expense, based on factors like race and sex, that were never even mentioned by Congress. 

USDA goes out of its way to issue relief money to “socially disadvantaged” farmers, which includes the following demographics: women, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians or Asian-Americans, blacks or African-Americans, Hispanics or Hispanic-Americans, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders. White men—whose crops are just as important to Americans as any other farmers—suffer.  

In short, farmers who fail to meet the “socially disadvantaged” criteria—including our clients—received far less assistance for their losses than if they were of a different race or sex. Such discrimination violates basic equal protection principles enshrined in the Constitution, to say nothing of basic principles of administrative law. USDA is acting unlawfully and without congressional authorization. Natural disasters don’t discriminate. Neither should USDA.  

On behalf of farmers Rusty Strickland, Alan and Amy West and their farm, and Bryan Baker and his farm, SLF and MSLF are suing USDA for violating the Fifth Amendment’s equal protection principles and the Administrative Procedure Act. As always, we are representing these farmers free of charge. 

Will Trachman, General Counsel for MSLF, noted, “President Biden can’t help but think about your race and sex. Since the day he took office, his executive branch agencies have been obsessed with identity politics, and dividing Americans up by meaningless characteristics. It’s time to make agencies like USDA pay the price for their unconstitutional misconduct, and to make sure that no agency has the discretion to adopt a policy of discrimination.”  

SLF Vice President of Litigation Braden Boucek states, “USDA is just one of several agencies under the Biden Administration acting as though it can act independently of Congress. The American people, through Congress, trusted USDA to help victimized farmers with disaster relief, not hurt them further by discriminating based on race and sex. The Constitution exists to curb the power of runaway bureaucracies. We are holding USDA accountable in court and will not rest until constitutional balance is restored.”  

Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit, public-interest legal foundation established in 1977. MSLF’s mission is to protect and restore those rights enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America, through pro bono litigation. MSLF protects individual liberty, the right to own and use property, the principles of limited and ethical government, and the benefits of the free enterprise system.