In Mid-America Milling Company v. United States Department of Transportation, Case No. 3:23-cv-00072 (“Mid-America”), the plaintiffs challenged the United States Department of Transportation’s (“DOT”) use of a rebuttable presumption when determining if an individual is socially disadvantaged for purposes of the DOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program (“DBE Program”). The plaintiff in Mid-America argued that the DOT’s use of a rebuttable presumption that businesses owned by women and certain races and ethnicities are socially disadvantaged is unconstitutional disparate treatment on the basis of race and sex.
On September 23, 2024, the Mid-America court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the DOT from mandating the use of race- and gender-based rebuttable presumptions for United States Department of Transportation contracts impacted by DBE goals upon which the Plaintiffs bid in connection with the DBE Program. The court limited its ruling to the plaintiffs in that case and did not order a nationwide injunction. It only barred the use of the rebuttable presumption for contracts that the plaintiffs were bidding on.
Subsequent to the district court’s ruling, the DOT and Mid-America plaintiffs disagreed on the scope of the district court’s ruling. The plaintiffs argued that the injunction barred the DOT from using the rebuttable presumption on any project that plaintiffs bid on, regardless of where the project is located. The DOT argued that the injunction was only limited to DOT projects in Indiana and Kentucky that plaintiffs bid upon.
The district court declined to expand its ruling to a nationwide injunction, which the district court described as an injunction “directed toward defendants and applicable anywhere, against anyone – including non-parties not before the Court.” However, the district court clarified that the injunction applied to any DOT project that the plaintiffs bid upon, regardless of the project’s location. As such, the district court’s ruling could affect DOT projects outside of Kentucky and Indiana and will apply to any project in the United States for which the plaintiffs submit a bid.
The district court’s amended injunction states:
The United States Department of Transportation, Peter Buttigieg, Shailen Bhatt, Todd Jeter, and any successors in office are ENJOINED from mandating the use of race- and gender-based rebuttable presumptions for United States Department of Transportation contracts impacted by DBE goals upon which the Plaintiffs bid, to be effective in any state in which Plaintiffs operate or bid on such contracts.
