YAF v SBA

Case Overview

Case Name: YAF v SBA
Type of Case: Equality Under the Law
Court: United States District Court For the Eastern District of Louisiana
Case Number: 2:25-cv-02328
Filed On: 11/17/2025
Current Status: A complaint was filed on November 17th.

Meet The Client

YAF is a national organization of college students. They describe themselves as "the leading organization for young conservatives. With more than 60 years of experience and contacts on more than 2,000 campuses, we help students like you find support, promote conservatism, and take action." YAF members, who are highly qualified college students, are being locked out of a competitive Department of Homeland Security fellowship that relies on the Section 8(a) “socially disadvantaged” regulations as part of its requirements.
Lawyers

Dan Lennington

Managing Vice President

Lucas Vebber

Deputy Counsel

WILL and the Center for Individual Rights (CIR) filed a major lawsuit against the Trump Administration today, targeting the foundation for many of the remaining federal DEI programs: the preference for so-called “socially disadvantaged individuals.” Entrenched within the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Section 8(a) program, this racial preference authorizes discrimination against millions of Americans in multiple federal programs for grants, loans, contracts, and other benefits. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Revier Technologies and the Young America’s Foundation (YAF).

The use of the phrase “socially disadvantaged individuals”—as a euphemism for race discrimination—exploded during the Biden Administration, which established dozens of race-based programs under the American Rescue Plan Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. WILL catalogued over 100 of these programs through its Roadmap to Equality and the Health Equality Roadmap. Although the Trump Administration has successfully dismantled many programs, and WILL has obtained judgments against several more, there is more work to be done.

Press Release

  • New WILL Lawsuit Targets the Beating Heart of Federal DEI Programs (11/17/2025)
    By: Pat Garrett
    - WILL and the Center for Individual Rights (CIR) filed a major lawsuit against the Trump Administration today, targeting the foundation for many of the remaining federal DEI programs: the preference for so-called “socially disadvantaged individuals.”
Case Documents

Complaint, November 2025