Case Name: YAF v. Department of Education

Type of Case: Equality Under the Law

Court: U.S. District Court of North Dakota, Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals 

Filed On: August 27, 2024

Current Status: WILL dismissed the case after the Trump Administration issued a new directive to open the scholarship to all students, regardless of race. A WIN for equality. 

The News: WILL has filed its 12th lawsuit against the Biden-Harris Administration, this time targeting the U.S. Department of Education’s McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program. This $60 million program provides financial and educational opportunities to students nationwide who want to pursue graduate studies. But many college students are ineligible because of their race, including Asians, whites, Arabs, Jews, and some Latinos.

WILL is representing Young Americans for Freedom Chapter at the University of North Dakota, the nationwide student organization Young America’s Foundation (YAF), and two students who are ineligible for the program solely due to their skin color.

Additional Background: The McNair Program supports nearly 6,000 college students every year. It offers a variety of benefits, including internships, seminars, tutoring, academic counseling, research opportunities, mentoring, and a stipend worth several thousand dollars. This program’s exclusionary practices harm many groups that are not deemed “underrepresented.” Asians, Arabs and other Middle Eastern ethnicities, Jewish students, many Latinos and some Africans are excluded. And, of course, whites are excluded. Only those students lucky enough to be on Biden-Harris’s list of favored racial groups get a chance to succeed with this program.

The McNair Program’s racial eligibility requirements are unconstitutional. By using race as a factor in affording educational opportunities, the McNair Program violates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. The Constitution forbids discrimination by the government against any citizen because of his race. The United States Supreme Court made these principles clear in striking down affirmative action in college admissions. They apply here as well.

WILL seeks to end this program’s unconstitutional and unfair discrimination. It is inexcusable to allow the Department of Education to deny students receiving premier opportunities solely due to the color of their skin.