SFFA Featured in Wall Street Journal
May 29th – Student for Fair Admissions’ founder Edward Blum and trial counsel Adam Mortara published the following op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal:
“Whistleblowers Can Stop Illegal DEI
The Justice Department expands its effort against discrimination by invoking the False Claims Act.
By Edward Blum and Adam Mortara
May 28, 2025 3:22 pm ET
The Justice Department is getting creative in its effort to prevent discrimination. On May 19 it announced the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which will use the False Claims Act, which encourages whistleblowers to come forward with evidence of illegal activity.
Universities, corporations and nonprofit organizations have established “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies that violate the plain language of civil-rights laws. These entities receive billions in federal funding by falsely certifying that they are in compliance with those laws.
Under the new initiative, federal contractors and funding recipients can be investigated and prosecuted under the False Claims Act, which was first enacted in 1863 to combat contractor fraud during the Civil War. The memo establishing the new initiative cites the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023), which declares that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” The decision confirmed that the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 almost never allow race-based favoritism, regardless of how well it is cloaked in the language of “equity and diversity.”
Despite that clear mandate, some institutions responded with evasion. A lawsuit filed by Students for Fair Admissions alleges that UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine still holds black and Latino applicants to lower standards than Asian ones. Corporations such as Bank of America and jurisdictions like Harris County, Texas, continue to boast about race-based “supplier diversity” goals and to award contracts preferentially based on race.
The memorandum makes explicit that recipients of federal funding aren’t entitled to obey civil-rights law selectively. A university can’t accept taxpayer dollars while condoning antisemitism on campus or treating applicants differently based on race. A nonprofit can’t benefit from federal tax exemptions while maintaining programs that exclude applicants from disfavored racial groups.
These efforts to circumvent the law will carry substantial legal consequences. Under the False Claims Act, any school, corporation or nonprofit that falsely certifies compliance with civil-rights law while operating discriminatory programs can be held liable for civil damages and penalties. Claims can be brought by private citizens or membership organizations acting as whistleblowers. This critical provision creates incentives that enable enforcement where government might be overstretched or inclined to look away.
The False Claims Act allows private individuals to bring suit on behalf of the U.S. The Justice Department, recognizing that it can’t unearth all discrimination, has expressly invited such suits. The private plaintiffs receive a portion of the penalties or damages won in the lawsuit—and that can mean real money.
Consider Harvard. Students for Fair Admissions found in our lawsuit that Harvard engaged in a multi-decade violation of federal civil-rights laws but was falsely certified for civil-rights compliance. Penalties for this under the False Claims Act range from around $14,000 to $30,000 for each false certification—and a large institution submits thousands each year.
The Justice Department has given employees at all levels of universities and the corporate world an incentive to come forward and expose unlawful discrimination. Students for Fair Admissions has always encouraged whistleblowers, and our inboxes are bursting with reports. Now the bravery to call out illegal discrimination can pay off financially.
Whether discrimination takes place in the boardroom, the human-resources office or the admissions department, whistleblowers have a path to expose civil-rights fraud where it exists. Those who have been excluded, overlooked or denied opportunities because of their race or ethnicity have a federal mechanism to seek justice.
The Supreme Court wisely gave the nation a constitutional directive for a colorblind legal order. Now the Justice Department is bringing it to fruition.”
You can find the article here: www.wsj.com/opinion/whistleblowers-can-stop-illegal-dei-justice-department-effort-against-discrimination-expansion