Judge Halts Debt Relief Program for Farmers of Color, Says It’s Likely Unconstitutional

A federal judge in Wisconsin on Friday issued a temporary restraining order pausing payments in a federal farmer loan forgiveness program that grants benefits on the basis of race, arguing there’s a “strong likelihood” a court will rule that the program is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach issued the temporary restraining order (pdf) after a group of white farmers filed a lawsuit (pdf) against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), claiming unconstitutional race discrimination in the American Rescue Plan Act’s (ARPA) provisions that offer loan forgiveness based on racial categories (pdf). “Plaintiffs are excluded from the program based on their race and are thus experiencing discrimination at the hands of their government,” Griesbach wrote in the opinion, noting that the twelve farmers and ranchers who sued “have established a strong likelihood that Section 1005 of the ARPA is unconstitutional.” The relevant provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act, which President Joe Biden signed …