Discovery Set to Proceed; Diversity Requirements Remain In Place

Judge Also Dismisses Challenge to Separate General Board Inclusion Requirement

Montgomery, AL – A federal judge in the Middle District of Alabama today has sided with Black real estate professionals and denied a motion by the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) –an organization that has challenged pro-diversity and other equal opportunity measures across the country. If granted, AAER’s motion would have eliminated Alabama’s long-standing requirement that the state’s Appraisers Board include two racial minorities. 

The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) v. Ivey and the ruling is the latest win in favor of the Alabama Association of Real Estate Brokers (“Brokers Association”), a membership organization of Black real estate professionals and housing equity advocates, which secured a bid to intervene to defend the Alabama law earlier this year. The Brokers Association is represented by attorneys from Democracy Forward, Aleshadye Getachew and Brooke Menschel, who successfully argued in a hearing on July 11 against the attempt to prematurely dispose of the case without discovery. 

“We appreciate that the Court is allowing this case to move on to discovery,” said Getachew. “There will be real harm to people in Alabama if this law is struck down,” she added.

The Alabama Association of Real Estate Brokers is the Alabama chapter of the National Association for Real Estate Brokers, which was founded in 1947 and is the oldest trade association for Black real estate professionals who were for decades wholly excluded from joining other professional associations because of their race.  In this case, the Brokers Association argues that the requirement that the nine-member Appraisers Board include two racial minorities is lawful, pointing to the state’s interest in remedying the effects of historical and ongoing racial discrimination. 

“This is an important win that will allow us to demonstrate to the Court how important state laws ensuring diversity on state boards are to people in Alabama,” said Brokers Association Chair Marcus Brown. “State boards make decisions that affect all Alabamaians and should be reflective of the communities they serve. For the past three decades, this Alabama law has aimed to ensure that state boards reflect the state’s rich diversity; yet now that law and the promise of opportunity for all is under attack.” 

After rejecting AAER’s bid to avoid discovery, the Court also dismissed AAER’s challenge to a separate requirement that the Board shall be inclusive and reflect the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic diversity of the state.

In addition to Getachew and Menschel, AAREB is represented by Martin Weinberg and Democracy Forward’s Victoria Nugent and Sunu Chandy.

AAER v. Ivey is one in a series of challenges by special interests to roll back diversity and inclusion efforts across the country.

For more information about Democracy Forward and AAER v. Ivey, please visit https://democracyforward.org/work/black-real-estate-professionals-defend-alabama-law-ensuring-diversity-on-the-states-appraisers-board/. 

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