Three Strikes: A Third Judge Strikes Down Biden’s $4B Racist ‘Non-Whites Only’ Farm Aid Program

A third judge last week struck down the Biden administration’s multi-billion-dollar farm aid program that expressly excludes whites.

Following rulings against the aid program from judges in Florida and Wisconsin, a judge in Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction to halt the race-based program, siding instead with white fourth-generation farmer Robert Holman, The Washington Times reported:

U.S. District Court Judge S. Thomas Anderson of the Western District of Tennessee issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Agriculture Department from delivering race-based loan payments under Section 1005 of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

… The ruling in favor of fourth-generation farmer Robert Holman of Union City, Tennessee, came as the latest court defeat for the USDA as it seeks to pay off up to 120% of qualified federal loans for “socially disadvantaged” farmers and ranchers, defined as “Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Hispanic, or Asian, or Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.”

“The Court finds that Plaintiff (Holman) has shown a substantial likelihood that he will prevail on his claim that Section 1005 violates his right to equal protection under the law,” the decision said. “Absent action by the Court, socially disadvantaged farmers will obtain debt relief, while Plaintiff will suffer the irreparable harm of being excluded from that program solely on the basis of his race.”

As highlighted by Forbes, the Biden-signed American Rescue Plan “includes $4 billion in debt relief payments for farmers categorized as ‘socially disadvantaged” by the United States Department of Agriculture, primarily farmers who are Black, Hispanic, American Indian, or Asian American.”

Whites, no matter their economic strains, are excluded.

Dairy farmer Adam Faust spoke to Fox News about the bill last month.

I was a new mom when the pandemic hit, and I worried about making ends meet. I resorted to selling down some of the herd in a low market. I know many other ranching families who’ve had to do the same. Others have lost their farms, ranches and homes.

We’re all the same on the inside. But if you treat people differently based on their outward appearance, you’re making assumptions about who they are and where they come from — and what they’ve had to overcome.  

Part of the government’s rationale for this discrimination is that the vast majority of prior COVID-19 farming aid in last year’s CARES Act went to white farmers. But according to the US Census Bureau, 95.4 percent of agricultural producers in the United States are white. And no one disputes that the bipartisan CARES Act was enacted on race-neutral terms.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case with Biden’s law.

It’s true that many minority-owned farms are struggling. But my family’s struggles are no less real, and my family is no less deserving of aid. We’ve worked just as hard, and our contributions to our nation’s critical food supply are just as important.

In past decisions, the Supreme Court has made it clear that discriminating in favor of members of a minority group is no more constitutional than discriminating against them. But you don’t have to be a constitutional scholar to know Biden’s law violates fundamental American notions of fairness. That’s why I went to court to challenge Biden’s plan to exclude whites from aid.

You can’t fight past discrimination with more discrimination. But sadly, the president has used this bill as an opportunity to further divide our country. Let’s hope the courts see through Biden’s disordered notion of “social justice,” behind which lies nothing but bigotry.

All and all, this entire situation lands as yet another failure of the Biden Administration.