A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed Thursday against the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. The suit challenges a long-standing scholarship program that limits eligibility to Black students. The complaint was brought by the American Alliance for Equal Rights, an anti-affirmative action organization.
The program at the center of the lawsuit is the CBC Spouses Education Scholarship. It offers awards ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. Roughly 300 students are selected out of 3,000 applicants each year.
The foundation’s website, FAQ page, and promotional materials openly state that non-Black applicants are not eligible. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A Program Decades in the Making
The CBC Spouses Education Scholarship has been operating since 1988. It was built during a period when federal funding cuts were hitting Black communities hard. Over the years, the program has distributed more than $11 million in scholarships.
According to a February blog post on the foundation’s website, the program was born from a clear-eyed recognition. “From the earliest days, CBC Spouses recognized a troubling reality: Black students were navigating inequitable education systems while federal investments in education were shrinking,” the post read.
The foundation did not issue a public response to the lawsuit by press time. CBCF president and CEO Nicole Austin-Hillery said the organization does not comment on pending litigation.
The Legal Challenge
The lawsuit argues that the scholarship’s eligibility rules break federal civil rights law. Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 guarantees all persons the equal right to make and enforce contracts without regard to race. The group says the scholarship violates that guarantee.
“Racial discrimination is unconscionable,” the lawsuit states. “Awarding educational opportunities to some young constituents but not others — based on the color of their skin — is neither conscientious nor legal.”
The Alliance is also targeting a geographic eligibility requirement. Applicants must reside or attend school in a congressional district represented by a CBC member. Because CBC membership is restricted to Black members of Congress, the group argues this geographic criterion operates as an additional racial proxy.
Edward Blum, president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, was direct in his criticism.
“Racial discrimination is wrong no matter which group it favors or harms,” Blum said. “A scholarship program that tells students they are ineligible because of their race, and the race of their representatives, violates one of our nation’s oldest civil rights laws.”
He continued: “Members of Congress represent constituents of all races. So, all qualified students, regardless of their race, deserve the same opportunity to compete for this scholarship.”
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two students, one Asian and one Hispanic, who are members of Blum’s organization. Neither student is white, a detail that complicates the framing that this is solely a white applicants’ grievance.
Broader DEI Crackdown
The legal action fits into a larger national pattern. The number of scholarships with race, ethnicity, or gender criteria in the National Scholarship Providers Association database dropped by 25% between March 2023 and June 2025.
The Trump administration has launched broad challenges to DEI programs across government, universities, and corporations. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently sued a Coca-Cola distributor, alleging a workplace event limited to women was discriminatory.
Legal experts have noted that Blum’s recent focus on nonprofits reflects a broader strategy moving from higher education, to corporate diversity programs, and now to race-based funding and grantmaking.
The Alliance is seeking a declaratory judgment that the scholarship violates federal law, an injunction against race-based administration of the program, and a court order requiring the foundation to reopen applications under race-neutral criteria.
The Congressional Black Caucus was founded in 1971. It now includes more than 60 members in the House and Senate, all Democrats. The caucus was created to advance the interests of African Americans and other marginalized communities. Whether the courts will rule that those roots justify race-exclusive scholarships remains to be seen.