South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has expressed support for President Trump’s position against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives by backing a proposed change to U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) programs that currently provide race- and sex-based preferences. On November 3, Wilson submitted a regulatory comment letter endorsing the USDOT’s Interim Final Rule, which seeks to remove presumptions based on race or sex from the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program and the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise in Airport Program.
Under the proposed rule, these programs would remain in place but eligibility would be extended to all citizens without regard to race or sex.
“Chief Justice John Roberts said it best—the best way to stop discrimination is to stop discriminating,” Attorney General Wilson said.
Wilson argues that the changes are necessary to ensure compliance with the U.S. Constitution and federal law.
“Although both programs may be rooted in a laudable desire to ‘level the playing field for businesses seeking to participate in federally assisted contracts and in airport concessions,’ Congress has mandated that the programs use improper and discriminatory means to achieve this objective by assuming that certain individuals—namely, women and certain racial and ethnic groups—are presumptively disadvantaged,” he writes in his letter addressed to DOT Secretary Sean Duffy.
This stance aligns with previous opinions from Wilson’s office. In September 2023, his office described government programs based on race or gender as “presumptively unconstitutional.”
