A California state judge granted Californians a legal victory in Crest v. Padilla last week.
Judge Terry A. Green found the state’s mandate that public companies headquartered in California must choose directors based on race or sexual orientation to violate the state constitution’s equal-protection clause.
Corporations Code Section 301.4 requires companies to hire at least one director who “self-identifies as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.”
Judge Green noted that the rule treats individuals in similar positions differently simply because of their racial and gender-identity groups. He rejected claims that those individuals are inherently different because they belong to certain groups. He also claimed that the state constitution protects individual rights, not the rights of groups.
Judge Green made the right decision. California’s mandate was grossly discriminatory, as it singled out certain minorities. It also reduces individuals to group members, highlighting irrelevant characteristics over their individual merit and character.
Green also provided a brilliant epilogue further explaining his decision.
“Fundamental values, whether personal or social, must be guarded. Equal treatment and opportunity, of and for all individuals regardless of how they look or identify, is one of this state’s basic commitments. Sometimes and in some places the citizens of this state will not live up to that ideal. But the thing that caused the problem is not always the right tool to fix the problem. Only in very particular cases should discrimination be remedied by more discrimination. And that should only happen after obvious alternative measures have been tried. Sometimes the direct approach should be the last resort, not the first.”
The left tries to justify these affirmative action mandates by arguing that they are providing a remedy to systemic discrimination. As Judge Green perfectly said, it is wrong to fight discrimination with more discrimination.
The answer is to promote a worldview in which every person is seen as God sees them. One’s identity is not rooted in their outward appearance or sexuality, but rather in their Creator. Every person was made in the image of God, and it’s their character alone that matters.
Equal treatment and equal opportunity under the law are not only basic principles that our country was founded on, but they also promote this Christian worldview. Unless they remain the goals of the law, injustices will only worsen. Thankfully, fundamental values reigned supreme in this case.
This is an encouraging victory for California. While the left makes every attempt to push Critical Race Theory (CRT), discrimination, and identity politics, a judicial system that remains committed to fundamental principles is more important than ever.
