Advisory
Appellate & Supreme Court
June 24, 2024
The Eleventh Circuit’s Fearless Fund Decision: Implications for Race-Conscious Initiatives
On June 3, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the Fearless Fund from administering a contest that would have awarded $20,000 grants to small businesses owned by Black women. Reversing a lower court’s opinion, the Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the Fearless Fund’s contest is substantially likely to violate Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, which prohibits race discrimination in making and enforcing private contracts. Am. All. for Equal Rts. v. Fearless Fund Mgmt., LLC, 103 F.4th 765 (11th Cir. 2024).