'Smacks of blatant vote-buying': Legal experts call Harris proposals for Black men 'unconstitutional'
Kamala Harris released her "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men" this week, but some of her proposals could be considered "unconstitutional," legal analysts say.
Vice President Kamala Harris released her "Opportunity Agenda for Black Men" this week, but some of her proposals could be considered unconstitutional, according to top legal analysts.
Harris unveiled the five-point plan last week, which includes providing 1 million forgivable loans of up to $20,000 for "Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business." Another proposal includes funding and capital for vocational training "to help expand pathways for Black men to get good-paying jobs."
Programs that distribute resources based on economic disadvantage and race have lost challenges in court. One example of this involves a nonprofit that provided small business grants to exclusively Black female business owners. Another example includes a federal disaster relief program that gave preference to minority and female farmers.
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"A Harris administration would face a significant constitutional challenge in granting these loans on the basis of race," George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley said.
"It is unconstitutional because eligibility for the money would be determined by race," added Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett. "Harris’ proposal smacks of blatant vote-buying."
Dan Fee is an attorney, political consultant and president of the Philadelphia-based Echo Group, a crisis and communications firm that's represented high profile clients like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J.
Fee challenged these takes, insisting that it would "stun" him if policies such as those Harris rolled out for Black men were not widely vetted before they were proposed. "If you want to attack the problem of poverty at its source, this is a smart policy," he said.
In addition to the economics-focused policies for Black men, Harris' five-point policy plan proposes legalizing marijuana at the federal level and establishes a "National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men" to study health challenges that "disproportionately impact" Black men.
The latter effort — tailoring and providing services based on race — has been investigated by the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services due to discrimination concerns.
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Biden administration proposals providing economic relief based on racial and gender identity groups have also faced challenges in court. For example, a federal judge earlier this year blocked an Agriculture Department disaster aid program that gave preferences to minority and female farmers, ruling it discriminated against White male farmers.
Another federal program that sought to provide economic relief to restaurant owners following the COVID-19 pandemic and provided preference on the basis of gender and race met a similar fate.
Jarrett called the agriculture program "clearly discriminatory against white farmers," and argued that Harris "surely knows" her proposals will meet the same fate.
"But her immediate interest appears to be pandering for minority votes," he said.
Turley also pointed out that even if this policy is neutral on its face, it can still be struck down in court.
"It can still be challenged ‘as applied,’" he said. "That means that while the program is stated neutrally, it is beng used in a racially discriminatory fashion."
This, Turley said, means that even with qualifiers in Harris' proposals, which may cast a wide net of anticipated beneficiaries, it can still face legal challenges.
"The addition of these qualifying terms is meant to prevent a facial challenge, but that does not, however, prevent an as applied challenge."
Harris and her campaign have struggled to appeal to men — and especially Black men — with one prominent Democrat strategist calling Harris' struggle with men "a big problem" for her, according to The Hill.
Meanwhile, the Black vote has also seemingly been a struggle for Harris, who has received less support from that portion of the electorate than Biden did at the same point during his 2020 campaign for the presidency, The Washington Post reported this week. The Democratic National Committee launched a bus tour earlier this week seeking to shore up support among this electorate heading into the final days of the election.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
