A conservative law firm has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over several programs it describes as racially discriminatory.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) sued the Trump administration on behalf of dairy farmer Adam Faust, who is white, alleging several USDA programs deny financial assistance based on sex or race.
According to the lawsuit, Faust participates in three programs that discriminate against him: The Dairy Margin Coverage Program charges Faust an administrative fee that minority and female farmers are exempt from, the Loan Guarantee Program offers a lower guarantee to white males than minorities and females, and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program offers lower reimbursements to white males than minorities.
“The USDA should honor the President’s promise to the American people to end racial discrimination in the federal government,” Faust said. “After being ignored by a federal agency that’s meant to support agriculture, I hope my lawsuit brings answers, accountability, and results from USDA.”
Faust successfully sued the Biden administration for racial discrimination in the Farmer Loan Forgiveness Plan in 2021.
“USDA has not specifically responded to us on these three programs or any of the other two dozen programs that we identified as unlawful race discrimination,” WILL Deputy Legal Counsel Dan Lennington told NR. “President Trump has issued at least two executive orders mandating that all race-based programs be eliminated by the agencies.” He called the USDA a “lone holdout” among executive agencies and said its continued operation of these programs is a “blatant violation of Trump’s executive orders.”
“Farmers are being victimized every single day by Brooke Rollins, and there seems to be absolutely no sense of urgency by USDA to fix these issues. Since we have sued them in federal court, they will now be represented by the U.S. Department of Justice, which we believe will take this matter much more seriously,” Lennington concluded.
WILL initially sent a letter to secretary of agriculture Brooke Rollins, attorney general Pam Bondi, and Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought in April. WILL warned that it would file a lawsuit against the USDA if it did not eliminate race- and sex-based preferences in its programs within sixty days. The law firm said it understood “it takes time to implement President Trump’s agenda, but there is no excuse for this continued discrimination.”
In May, six Republican members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation sent a letter to Rollins, requesting that she “investigate this important issue” and “remove all race and sex-based preferences impacting Mr. Faust.” They continued, “We respectfully request that USDA handle this matter with Mr. Faust expeditiously rather than extended litigation in federal court.”
The USDA told NR: “We do not comment on pending litigation. For further information, please contact the U.S. Department of Justice.” The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NR.