Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions are suing the Department of Education (DoEd) over a program that provides free money to schools with student bodies that are at least 25 percent Hispanic. Plaintiffs argue this program is unconstitutional.

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The Epoch Times has the story:

The lawsuit was brought in the Eastern District of Tennessee by the state of Tennessee and Students for Fair Admissions, a group whose separate lawsuit led the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 to strike down the use of racial criteria in student admissions at institutions of higher learning in a case called Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard College.

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The plaintiffs argue that the federal government’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) grant program unconstitutionally discriminates based on race and ethnicity, according to the complaint.

The Education Department’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions Division provides “grant funding to institutions of higher education to assist with strengthening institutional programs, facilities, and services to expand the educational opportunities for Hispanic Americans and other underrepresented populations,” the department’s website states.

Congress reportedly appropriated just over $350 million for the program in fiscal year 2024. The lawsuit, however, argues that the DoEd may not discriminate even is authorized to by Congress.

According to the Times, the lawsuit details how Tennessee in particular has been negatively affected by this program:

Tennessee operates a number of colleges and universities, all of which serve Hispanic students and low-income students. “But not one of them qualifies to receive grants under the HSI program” because they don’t possess “the right mix of ethnicities on campus,” the complaint states.

“Funds should help needy students regardless of their immutable traits, and the denial of those funds harms students of all races,” according to the complaint.

In its current form, the program engages in “unconstitutional racial balancing” and operates outside the constitutional authority of Congress. The 25 percent minimum Hispanic enrollment provision functions as “a strict racial gatekeeper,” determining which schools may receive millions of dollars under the program, Students for Fair Admissions said in a statement.

This program is withholding money from schools that need it, instead putting it “unconstitutional racial balancing.” Lets that pray the Trump administration and Education Secretary Linda McMahon put an end to this ungodly program!

How are you praying about this lawsuit? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – Linda McMahon, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106612116)