The American Alliance for Equal Rights, headed by political conservative Edward Blum, has filed a lawsuit against Fort Worth-based American Airlines and its supplier alleging the airline’s diversity policy for awarding certain contracts violates civil rights law.
Blum, who took down affirmative action in college admissions, has recently been targeting diversity programs in corporations and law firms. Last year, the AAER sued Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, alleging a charitable program that provided free tickets to low-income Hispanic students flying home to visit their parents is illegally discriminatory. That case is pending in the Northern District of Texas.
In its lawsuit filed Tuesday, the AAER now alleges American Airlines’ supplier diversity program violates Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act, which protects equal contracting rights regardless of race, and Title VI because the airline company receives federal funds. Qurium Solutions, doing business as Supplier.io, is named as a co-defendant.
Eligibility criteria for the program require businesses to be at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by people who are Black, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, women, LGBTQ, disabled, veterans or service-disabled veterans, according to the complaint which includes an image of American Airlines’ online list of qualifications.
“The Alliance has members who are being excluded from the program and discriminated against because they are the wrong race,” the complaint states.
The AAER refers to two of its members as Member A and Member B for fear of reprisal from American, Supplier.io and other businesses or the public, according to the complaint. Member A is a company that provides hardware, software and IT products and services and Member B’s company provides “professional services” similar to businesses that are already in the airline’s database of diverse suppliers, the complaint states.
The AAER seeks a declaratory judgment that the program violates Section 1981 and Title VI, a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction as well as a permanent injunction, nominal damages in the amount of $1 and costs and fees.
In its suit against Southwest Airlines, the AAER sought one cent in damages. Southwest agreed to end the free ticket program for Hispanic students in an effort to resolve the lawsuit and sent a penny to the AAER, but the alliance returned the money and said it wanted the lawsuit to continue.
“Whether in university admissions, employment, or contracting, the message from the courts is clear: racial discrimination, no matter how well-intentioned it may be, is incompatible with the values of equal opportunity enshrined in our Constitution and federal law,” Blum said in an announcement of the lawsuit.
The AAER is represented by Washington D.C.-area boutique Consovoy McCarthy.
Lawyers for American Airlines said they hadn’t yet read the complaint Tuesday and declined to comment.
The case is American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Qurium Solutions, Inc. (D/B/A Supplier.io) et al, case number 4:25-cv-00125 in the Northern District of Texas.