A Wisconsin judge suspended a Biden administration program that shelled out race-based debt relief following a lawsuit by a conservative group and farmer coalition.
Judge William Griesbach of Wisconsin’s Eastern District issued a temporary halt Thursday following a lawsuit filed in April by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Just the News reports.
The court “recognized that the federal government’s plan to condition and allocate benefits on the basis of race raises grave constitutional concerns and threatens our clients with irreparable harm,” Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty said.
The nonprofit organization is representing a dozen farmers in several states fighting against the administration.
The farmer debt-relief program, aimed at non-white farmers, was part of Biden’s whopping $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus package passed in March.
As previously reported by Human Events News, the program offers “socially disadvantaged” farmers $4 billion in loan-forgiveness, which includes direct payments of up to 20 percent of the loan value.
Specifically, the law says those eligible must be “Black/African American, American Indian or Alaskan native, Hispanic or Latino, or Asian American or Pacific Islander.”