Alabama Association of Real Estate Brokers Triumphs in Defense of Representation

Montgomery, AL – Today, a special interest group’s challenge to Alabama’s longstanding requirement that the state’s Appraisers Board include two racial minorities was dismissed, leaving the law in place in a victory for equality and opportunity in the state. The dismissal, in a case filed by the Ed Blum-led American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), comes after more than a year of litigation by the Alabama Association of Real Estate Brokers (Brokers Association) represented by Democracy Forward and Wiggins Child, which intervened in the case to defend Alabama’s longstanding law to ensure representation. 

The Brokers Association 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 excluded from joining mainstream professional associations because of their race. In this case, the Brokers Association argued 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 past and ongoing racial discrimination in real estate and appraisals.  

In defending the law, the Brokers Association retained experts to examine the lasting effects of past and current discrimination, including in the real estate and appraisal industries in Alabama, through modern-day appraisal bias. The reports also demonstrate how the effects of discrimination can be mitigated by diversity, which can improve decision-making and equity in decision-making bodies like the Appraisers Board. The Brokers Association is providing these reports to state regulators and legislators with requests for action. 

“This is an important win in a case that has allowed us to demonstrate how important state laws ensuring diversity on state boards are to people in Alabama,” said Brokers Association President Pamela Wyatt. “State boards make decisions that affect all Alabamians 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, and we are thrilled that this case has been dismissed with prejudice.” 

“Opponents of civil rights have attempted to undermine equality and civil rights in the shadows in states across our country. At Democracy Forward, we are committed to exposing these efforts and bringing accountability to attacks on communities and our democracy. This case was an attempt to roll back hard-won actions to advance civil rights and encourage broad participation on public boards. It was our honor to represent our clients to uphold a critical law to address the lasting effects of racial discrimination and exclusion across generations that Alabamians still experience today,” said Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward. 

AAER v. Ivey is one in a series of challenges brought by the AAER – an organization that has attacked pro-diversity and other equity measures across the country, relying on the reasoning in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll. 

The Brokers Association is represented by Democracy Forward lawyers Aleshadye Getachew, Brooke Menschel, Victoria Nugent, Sunu Chandy, Kayla Kaufman, and Kali Schellenberg, as well as Jon C. Goldfarb and L. William Smith of Wiggins Childs.

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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Democracy Forward Foundation is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.