A group of Democratic Attorneys General, including the Bay State’s Andrea Campbell, have joined together to tell the nation’s largest corporations that they can go ahead and ignore any assertions on matters of equity and diversity from their Republican counterparts.

During a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday, 21 of the nation’s top law enforcement officials announced they had signed on to a letter sharply disagreeing with their conservative colleagues interpretation of a recent Supreme Court decision striking down the use of race as a consideration during college admissions.

“As the chief legal officers of our states, we recognize the many benefits of a diverse population, business community, and workforce, and share a commitment to expanding opportunity for all,” the AGs wrote.

“The letter you received from the 13 state attorneys general is intended to intimidate you into rolling back the progress many of you have made. We write to reassure you that corporate efforts to recruit diverse workforces and create inclusive work environments are legal and reduce corporate risk for claims of discrimination,” they continued.

The elected officials were responding to a message sent by more than a dozen Republican state officials to the nation’s Fortune 100 companies, in which the conservative attorneys general said the high court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College also applied to their private business practices.

“The Court…recognized that federal civil-rights statutes prohibiting private entities from engaging in race discrimination apply at least as broadly as the prohibition against race discrimination found in the Equal Protection Clause,” the Republican AGs wrote. “And the Court reiterated that this commitment to racial equality extends to ‘other areas of life,’ such as employment and contracting.”

Campbell, speaking alongside the likes of New York Attorney General Leticia James and Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, said that the conservative attorneys generals were misinterpreting the law and ignoring decades of systemic racism.

“The letter sent by some colleagues, not all, is a baseless attempt to intimidate private companies into halting and rolling back efforts, in some instances efforts that took place over decades, that are essential to address inequities and provide equal opportunity to all in their workplace,” Campbell said.

According to the Bay State’s Attorney General, despite the fact Republicans across the country are using the Supreme Court’s decision to attack a practice that studies show actually helps the bottom line, any business’ existing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are perfectly within the law.

“That work is indeed lawful, it is critical, and it is essential,” she said. “We are all stressing that folks should not be intimidated by this letter that disguises itself as legal guidance.”