City Sued Over Discriminatory Contracting Program

FORT WORTH, Texas, Oct. 1, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of New York, challenging the city's Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) certification program. The lawsuit alleges that the program, which gives public contracting advantages based on the race and sex of a business's owners, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and 42 U.S.C. §1981, which guarantees all persons the same right to make and enforce contracts regardless of race.

The complaint, which is attached to the lawsuit, alleges that the program is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The defendants in the case include Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the City of New York, the Department of Small Business Services, and Commissioner Kenny Minaya, as well as the New York City Department of Education and Chancellor Kamar H. Samuels. The lawsuit claims that the program is open only to businesses that are at least 51 percent owned, operated, and controlled by women or members of five designated groups: black, Hispanic, Asian-Pacific, Asian Indian, and Native American. Businesses majority-owned by white men are not eligible for certification.

The certification application process requires every applicant to confirm that the business is majority-owned by a woman or a member of a designated minority group. An applicant who cannot answer "yes" is blocked by a red error box and cannot proceed to the next step.

Furthermore, the complaint alleges that the Department of Education's procurement portal puts M/WBE vendors in a separate category and encourages schools to select M/WBEs first. The lawsuit also points to the City's new "New York City Racial Equity Plan," a 437-page document that promises to continue and expand preferences for minority-owned businesses, even after the Supreme Court struck down race as a factor in college admissions.

In the lawsuit, AAER asks the court to declare the M/WBE certification program unconstitutional and unlawful under §1981, bar the City from certifying businesses under the program or giving special benefits to certified firms, order the City to make certification available regardless of race or sex, and award damages, attorneys' fees, and costs. Edward Blum, the president of AAER, stated that the program is a violation of the Supreme Court's ruling and that the administration is expanding racial preferences instead of ending them.

The lawsuit comes as the City of New York is expanding its use of racial preferences, even after the Supreme Court struck down race as a factor in college admissions. The lawsuit asks the court to end the program, which AAER believes is unfair and illegal. The American Alliance for Equal Rights is confident that the courts will end this program, which they claim is discriminatory and violates the law.