As legal challenges mount, some companies retool diversity and inclusion programs

Conservative advocates have been feeling emboldened by the Supreme Court’s June ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions and are now seeking to set a similar precedent in the workplace

NEW YORK — Advocates of diversity efforts are steeling themselves for a fight this year as a growing number of lawsuits take aim at programs intended to advance racial equity in the corporate world.

Lawsuits making their way through the courts have targeted prominent companies and a wide array of diversity initiatives, including fellowships, hiring goals, anti-bias training and contract programs for minority or women-owned businesses. Most have been filed by conservative activists who have been encouraged by the Supreme Court’s June ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions and are seeking to set a similar precedent in the workplace.

The battle has been a roller coaster of setbacks and victories for both sides, but some companies are already retooling their diversity programs in the face of legal challenges, and the expectation that the conservative-dominated Supreme Court will eventually take up the issue.

“There’s a dragnet that I think we should all be concerned about,” said Alphonso David, President & CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum and a legal counsel for the Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based non-profit that is facing a lawsuit over a grant program for businesses owned by Black women.

“It’s all coordinated to reverse existing law and advance a chilling effect throughout many industries,” David said.

One conservative activist, Christopher Rufo, claimed a victory this month with the resignation of Harvard’s first Black woman president, Claudine Gay, after allegations of plagiarism and a furor over her