FEARLESS FUND SETTLES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION CASE STRATEGICALLY AVOIDING POTENTIAL DEVASTATING SUPREME COURT INTERVENTION

By Mona Austin

Represented by Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, the Fearless Fund settled the lawsuit that ended grant programs that helped Black women start ups. In 2023 the Edward Blum's American Alliance for Equal Rights sued Arion Simone over the Strivers Grant program which provided grants exclusively to Black women. They backed Slutty Vegan Founder Pinky Cole whose brand became a multimillion dollar entity in the food industry. Using a Civil Rights law from 1866 Blum's group argued successfully that the Fearless Fund discriminated. They previously had earlier challenged race-based affirmative action policies and won in the Supreme Court. By settling the case the Fearless Fund avoids a SCOTUS challenge and they are reportedly planning to create another program to assist Black women entrepreneurs.

In a statement online Crump lauded his client for their victory saying:

“It has been an honor to represent the Fearless Fund in this historic case. By strategically avoiding a Supreme Court ruling that could have eliminated race-based funding, we protected vital opportunities for the entire Black and brown community. This victory ensures that programs dedicated to uplifting underrepresented entrepreneurs remain intact and continue to serve their critical purpose.”

According to AFROTECH™ "four judges appointed by Donald Trump ruled against Fearless Fund, while two appointed by Bill Clinton and one by Barack Obama ruled in the firm’s favor."

“This is a WIN and positive outcome for the Fearless Fund and our community,” Fearless Fund stated on AFROTECH™’s Instagram. “We strategically avoided a Supreme Court ruling (the deadline to appeal our appeal has passed) because a ruling not in our favor at the Supreme Court would’ve ended minority based funding across the country and that would not be wise, we have already seen the Supreme Court ruling for the colleges end affirmative action for all colleges in schools and admissions.”