HOUSTON – A federal court has ruled the City of Houston’s Minority Women and Small Business Enterprise Program unconstitutional, according to court records.
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U.S. District Judge David Hittner issued a final judgment siding with two private landscape companies that challenged the racial preferences in local government contracts.
Court ruling
What we know:
The ruling awards judgment to the plaintiff, Landscape Consultants of Texas, Inc. and Metropolitan Landscape Management, Inc.
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According to the court document, the racially discriminatory aspects of the City of Houston and Midtown Management District’s Minority, Women, and Small Business Enterprise program were determined to be unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The two entities are also prohibited from applying the “race-conscious portion” of the program in the award of public contracts.
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