At the Volokh Conspiracy, Stewart Baker alerts of a draft bill titled, “The American Privacy Rights Act of 2024,” jointly authored by Senator Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.) and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.). I leave it to others to state whether the privacy portions of the draft bill are worthwhile, but Baker notes that the civil rights portions of the bill appear to give universities a green light to, once again, engage in racial discrimination under the guise of “diversity” (thereby restoring the pre-SFFA v. Harvard regime) and embedding “disparate impact” analysis in a broad swath of American life. Section 13 of the draft bill provides:

Further, “a large data holder that uses a covered algorithm in a manner that poses a consequential risk of a harm identified . . . shall conduct an impact assessment.” The harms in question include;

The bill would establish a new bureau within the FTC to enforce its provisions.

For an in-depth discussion of the proposed bill read Baker’s post.