Case Details
Case Status
Pending Case
Location
D.C
Date Filed
June 3, 2026
On June 3, 2026, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER) and Defending Education (DE) sued the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit says the Foundation’s scholarship contracts discriminate based on race, which violates a federal civil rights law, 42 U.S.C. § 1981.
The CBC Foundation is a nonprofit “educational institute” founded in 1976 that offers “scholarship opportunities” to students across the country. Nearly a dozen of its scholarships openly discriminate based on race. One example is the CBC Spouses Education Scholarship, which gives out large awards, but only to students who are “African American and Black.” Even then, applicants must live or study in a district or state represented by a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Sorting people by race is illegal when drawing voting maps, and it is just as illegal when handing out educational opportunities.
The Foundation’s partner, the Congressional Black Caucus, calls itself the “Conscience of the Congress.” But giving educational opportunities to some young people and not others because of their skin color is neither fair nor legal. AAER and DE have members who cannot apply for these scholarships only because of their race.
Read the complaint below: