Denver, Colorado — June 8, 2021 — Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) and Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) on Monday filed a second lawsuit in federal court challenging unconstitutional race discrimination in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farmer and rancher loan forgiveness program.
The challenged provision in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provides automatic loan forgiveness of up to 120 percent of the loan amount for farmers and ranchers, unless they are white. USDA has also stated that the law allows non-white farmers to re-apply for new loans through the federal program, while specifically excluding white farmers.
SLF and MSLF filed the lawsuit in the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of Robert Holman, a fourth-generation Tennessee farmer. Rob is a husband and a father of a young daughter. He farms with his father in Union City, Tennessee, where they have 2,200 combined acres to grow crops, mostly corn, and soybeans. Rob’s family’s primary income comes from farming.
Mr. Holman’s lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed by SLF and MSLF in the District of Wyoming on behalf of Leisl Carpenter, a sixth-generation Wyoming rancher. Her family has been ranching in Big Laramie Valley since 1862. Ms. Carpenter’s sole source of income comes from ranching. She runs the Ranch’s 2,400 acres, selling grass hay and running 500 plus head of cattle.
To help farmers and ranchers weather the pandemic, Congress decided that it was going to forgive federal farm loans – erasing the full amount of the loan and sending the forgiven debtor 20 percent of the loan’s value in cash to cover any resulting income tax liability. But unlike other farmers, neither Rob nor Leisl qualify for loan forgiveness because of the color of their skin.
Discriminating on the basis of race is illegal and unconstitutional. The federal government cannot grant specific benefits based solely on race, regardless of policy motivations. SLF and MSLF asked the court to order the federal government to immediately stop this discriminatory program and to stop excluding farmers because of their race.
“In this case, a rancher is excluded from government benefits because of her race. Under the U.S. Constitution, the government has violated Mr. Holman’s equal protection rights,” said Kimberly Hermann, SLF General Counsel. “Supreme Court decisions over the past sixty years in multiple contexts demonstrate the positive movement toward the constitutional goal of color-blind racial equality by repeatedly throwing out government-sponsored benefits programs based solely on race.”
“The COVID relief farm loan program is doubly unconstitutional,” added Braden Boucek, SLF Litigation Director. “The law provides 120 percent relief from the federal government for non-white farmers on existing loans, and specifically excludes white farmers from the same benefit. To make matters worse, the USDA plans to exclude white farmers from re-applying for government-backed loans.”
The Complaint can be found here.
The Motion for Preliminary Injunction can be found here.