U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer presented a case this week to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson regarding claims against the Biden administration for allegedly providing race- and sex-based preferential treatment within the USDA.
According to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) letter, several incentives were established under Titles 7 and 16 of the United States Code to support minority farmers and ranchers by providing “socially disadvantaged” opportunities. The DOJ has now concluded these programs are unconstitutional and has announced their cessation.
“[The] Department of Justice has determined that the programs are unconstitutional to the extent that they include preferences based on race or sex,” the letter reads.
The letter highlighted such programs as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) which defined a ‘socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher’ as a person belonging to a group subjected to “racial or ethnic prejudice based on their identity as members of a group without regard to their individual qualities…” In Texas Farm Bureau case, plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of EQIP, Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), which offers financial support to producers of non-insurable crops to protect against natural disasters, and other Title 7 and 16 programs. SG Sauer cited Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v President & Fellows of Harvard College as the governing legal standard for ending these preferences.
The Solicitor General is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the Department of Justice, responsible for representing the federal government in all U.S. Supreme Court litigation. This position is appointed by the President. (RELATED: Top Wisconsin Liberal Donor Mentioned in Epstein Files 2,000+ Times)
Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden of Agriculture tweeted Sauer’s letter to the Speaker alongside a note saying, “The previous Administration willfully engaged in racial discrimination across @USDA farm programs. This week, @TheJusticeDept cemented this as unconstitutional. America’s farmers will never again be subjected to such heinous prejudice.”
In a July 2025 statement, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and The U.S. The Department of Agriculture announced it would be removing the Biden Administration’s USDA legislation.
“We are taking this aggressive, unprecedented action to eliminate discrimination in any form at USDA. It is simply wrong and contrary to the fundamental principle that all persons should be treated equally. President Trump has directed the cabinet to scrutinize all programs for illegal and unfair discrimination, and as long as I am Secretary of Agriculture, when we find leftover Biden discrimination in our programs, we will hold those persons who have committed these insidious acts accountable and take swift action to correct these illegal actions,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins.
The move remains contentious. U.S. Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) opposed the Trump Administration actions to strip anti-discrimination measures, citing concerns of low-income Americans in food deserts. They argued that maintaining these measures supports disadvantaged consumers without harming the broader agricultural industry.
SG Sauer’s announcement gives legal color to the debate as farmers continue to be impacted by market disruptions, weather, and other external forces. (RELATED: Wisconsin DPI Faces Scrutiny Over $369K Waterpark Resort Getaway)
