Judge Halts Disaster Aid Program for Minority and Women Farmers

A federal judge blocked a portion of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) program that assists women and minority farmers with disaster relief. In a preliminary injunction against the USDA on June 7, Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas wrote that a group of white farmers are likely to succeed in their lawsuit against the federal agriculture agency. The farmers argue that the policy discriminates against white male farmers and violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. The USDA, the judge wrote, cannot provide disaster relief to farmers based on the agency’s “socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher” designation, which distributes a greater share of federal relief money to non-white, male farmers....