Vice President Kamala Harris announced her Opportunity Policy for Black Men this week, but some of her proposals could be deemed unconstitutional, according to top legal analysts.
Harris announced the five-point plan last week, including providing 1 million forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to “Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting new businesses.” announced plans. Another proposal includes funding and capital for job training that would “help expand pathways for Black men to get high-wage jobs.”
Programs that distribute resources based on economic disadvantage or race include Challenges lost in court. One example is a nonprofit that provides small business grants exclusively to Black women business owners. Another example is: Priority Federal Disaster Relief Programs For minority female farmers.
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“The Harris administration would run into serious constitutional problems if it granted these loans based on race,” said George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley.
FOX News legal analyst Gregory Jarrett added: “It's unconstitutional because eligibility for the money is based on race.” “Harris' proposal reeks of blatant vote-buying.”
Dan Fee is an attorney, political consultant, and president of the Philadelphia-based crisis and communications firm Echo Group, who has worked with former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Congressman Donald Norcross (D.N.J.). He represents prominent clients such as;
Mr. Fee disputed these views, saying he would be “appalled” if policies like the one proposed by Mr. Harris for black men were not widely scrutinized before being proposed. “If you want to attack poverty at its roots, this is a smart policy,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris answered questions from the media after visiting with Alfalfa Restaurant co-founders Andrew Arospido and Dan Londono. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In addition to economic-focused policies for black men, Harris' five-point policy plan proposes legalizing marijuana at the federal level and researching health issues that “disproportionately impact” black men. It proposes creating a “National Health Equity Initiative Focused on Black Men.” .
The latter effort, coordinating and delivering services based on race, investigated It was banned by the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights due to discrimination concerns.
Business grants to black women condemned as “racially exclusionary'' in federal court ruling
The Biden administration's proposal to provide economic relief based on race or gender identity group is also facing challenges in court. For example, a federal judge earlier this year blocked a USDA disaster assistance program that favored ethnic minority and female farmers, saying it discriminated against white male farmers.
Another federal program that provided financial relief to restaurateurs in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, offering preferential treatment based on gender and race, suffered a similar fate.
Black-owned business, sign outside restaurant, Queens, New York. (Lindsay Nicholson/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Jarrett called the farm plan “blatantly discriminatory against white farmers” and argued that Harris “certainly knows” that her proposal would have the same outcome.
“But her immediate interest seems to be pandering to minority votes,” he says.
Turley also noted that even though the policy is neutral on its face, it could be struck down in court.
“It is possible to object on an 'as applicable' basis,” he said. “That means the program is being used in a racist manner, even though it is described as neutral.”
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Mr. Turley said this means that even the restrictive terms on Mr. Harris' proposal, which could widen the expected beneficiaries far and wide, could still face legal challenges. .
“The addition of these eligibility conditions is intended to prevent challenges to the face, but does not preclude challenges from being applied.”
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris appears on stage during a campaign event at Throwback Brewery. (Daniel Parkhizkaran/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Ms. Harris and her campaign have struggled to appeal to men, especially black men, and one prominent Democratic strategist said Ms. Harris' struggle with men is a “huge problem” for her. According to The Hill.
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Meanwhile, the black vote also appears to be a struggle for Harris, who received less support from that segment of the electorate than Biden at the same time during the 2020 presidential campaign. The Washington Post reported this week. Democratic National Committee We started our bus tour earlier this week They are trying to shore up support from this electorate in the final days of the election.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
