A panel of the 11th Circuit, reversing a lower-court ruling, says the venture capital firm may not issue the $20,000 grants while the legal case plays out.
The headline is technically correct. The fund is for grants to disadvantaged populations. They are not able to issue those grants until the litigation finishes
A panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled Monday that an Atlanta-based venture capital firm should be temporarily blocked from issuing grants reserved for businesses owned by Black women, saying that doing so would probably discriminate against business owners of other races.
The ruling comes after Fearless Fund, a VC firm dedicated to funding businesses founded by women of color, was sued last August by a group led by affirmative-action opponent Edward Blum. Blum’s cases against Harvard and the University of North Carolina culminated with the Supreme Court overturning race-conscious college admissions last summer.
The federal appeals court in Atlanta reversed a lower-court decision that the fund could proceed with its grant contest amid the litigation.
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The appeals panel ruled 2-1 that allowing the $20,000 awards to be issued under the fund’s Fearless Strivers Grant Contest would be “substantially likely” to violate a federal statute that prohibits racial discrimination in contracts. The panel also ruled that the plaintiffs, who were not identified by name in their legal complaint, had standing to proceed with their case.
The judges in the majority, Kevin Newsom and Robert Luck, were appointed by President Donald Trump. The dissenting judge, Robin Rosenbaum, was appointed by President Barack Obama.
The headline is technically correct. The fund is for grants to disadvantaged populations. They are not able to issue those grants until the litigation finishes
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