The tragic aircraft collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Jan. 29 was personally devastating. Not because I knew any of the 67 souls lost that night or the first responders but because of the senselessness of it and the painful conclusion that it was predictable and preventable. I believe that because of efforts I undertook nearly 10 years earlier.
In early 2015, former Fox Business reporter Adam Shapiro uncovered, in a three-part exposé, former President Barack Obama’s plan “to transform the Federal Aviation Administration into a more diverse and inclusive workplace that reflects, understands, and relates to the diverse customers we serve,” by selecting air traffic controllers based on race. I was horrified, not only because of my concern for the safety of 2.9 million passengers aboard 45,000 daily flights across some 29 million square miles of airspace but also because, 20 years earlier, my Colorado client prevailed before the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling that barred the federal government from making race-based decisions.
Using Shapiro’s articles, which named brave, whistleblowing, and passed-over would-be ATCs, I reached out to disappointed young Americans, many seeking to fulfill a life-long dream. In the process, I encountered an Arizona lawyer, a former ATC, who was doing the same. Over a lengthy meal in Phoenix, Michael Pearson briefed me on the workings of the FAA, the calamity that was Obama’s plan to racialize one of the country’s most demanding jobs, and the likely catastrophe if an unqualified diversity hire got through 12-16 weeks of training and manned a microphone in a busy control tower. We decided to team up, represent clients discriminated against by the FAA, and file a federal lawsuit.
Our client was Andrew Brigida, who was born and raised in Mahopac, New York. Later, his family moved to Arizona, where he attended Arizona State University. He enrolled as an ATC major. In May 2013, he earned two aviation-related Bachelor of Science degrees and took the demanding, eight-hour computer-based Air Traffic Selection and Training exam. He scored 100%. ASU sent his name to the FAA with a recommendation that he be hired. Thanks to Obama’s diversity program, Brigida and 2,000 to 3,000 other highly qualified applicants were rejected.
On Dec. 30, 2015, I appeared with Brigida on After the Bell, hosted by David Asman on Fox Business, to announce the filing of our lawsuit in federal district court in Arizona. To my knowledge, our Fox Business appearance was the filing’s only national news. The next week, my op-ed on it appeared in the New York Post. In August 2016, after Congress failed to kill Obama’s plan, I wrote of the matter for Fox News. After that, other than an appearance by Pearson on Tucker Carlson, news of what Obama was doing to the FAA, the repercussions for traveling Americans, and the response of those whose civil rights were violated disappeared.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit continued through the federal courts. Dismissed in an Arizona federal district court, it was reinstated in the District of Columbia, where it survived efforts by deep state attorneys to have it dismissed as it progressed through lengthy discovery and motions practice. On Feb. 1, 2022, long after I withdrew as Brigida’s counsel and joined the Trump administration, Pearson and his co-counsels prevailed. The district court certified Brigida’s lawsuit for class action status for as many as 1,000 “non-African American[s]” rejected by the FAA. All this passed unnoticed by the national media.
That changed on Jan. 30. President Donald Trump was courageously the first to mention what was on the minds of those who knew about Obama’s plan and the lawsuit: DEI. After opening with a moment of silence and prayer for those lost and noting, “It’s all under investigation,” Trump said, in response to a question about his reasoning, “I have common sense.” Days later, Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy echoed him.
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SUIT AGAINST THE FAA’S DEI POLICIES
Although the investigation continues, knowledgeable observers believe a decade-plus of the FAA lowering hiring standards, easing testing requirements, and overlooking unsatisfactory performance in pursuit of “a more diverse and inclusive workplace” has cost the nation dearly. Whether it contributed to the DCA crash is unknown, but the dangers posed and the risks raised by recruiting, hiring, and retaining people unqualified to be ATCs are too great to continue.
William Perry Pendley, a Wyoming attorney and Colorado-based public-interest lawyer for three decades with victories at the Supreme Court, served in the Reagan administration and led the Bureau of Land Management for President Donald Trump.