Arizona law is clear: state agencies cannot force their employees into discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings as a job requirement. But a court ruling that prohibits state workers from suing when their employers do just that threatens to leave this important law essentially meaningless. That’s why the Goldwater Institute is heading back to the Arizona Supreme Court to fight for the fundamental principle that if a legal right exists, so does the right to enforce it.
Goldwater lawyers will appear at the Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to defend the right of Arizona State University Professor Owen Anderson to hold the school’s leaders accountable for illegally forcing him and all other ASU employees into a mandatory DEI training. Professor Anderson sued the Arizona Board of Regents in 2024 after he was required to take ASU’s mandatory “Inclusive Communities” training, which provided instruction about so-called “transformative justice” and the alleged moral and social failures of “whiteness” and “heteronormativity.”
“My colleagues and I should have never been forced by ASU into an ideological training that teaches that it’s okay to judge people based on their race and sex. That training didn’t just violate my sincere beliefs; it was also clearly illegal,” Professor Anderson said. “Ultimately, the question now before the Arizona Supreme Court isn’t a left or right issue—and it’s not just about DEI—it’s about whether a state employee has the right to hold their employer accountable when it violates the law.”
ASU’s requirement that all employees take the training is plainly forbidden under Arizona law, which prohibits mandatory trainings based on concepts of blame or judgement based on race, ethnicity, or sex. The law also bars the use of taxpayer funds to create or implement these kinds of DEI trainings.
But while the trial court initially allowed Professor Anderson’s claim to proceed, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled that he doesn’t have a right to sue under the law. Astonishingly, the appeals court concluded that the statute does not allow an individual subjected to unlawful, discriminatory training to challenge it in court.
That is not the law. It’s a basic legal principle that that when a statute is designed to protect a specific class of people and would be unenforceable unless those it protects could sue, the statute necessarily implies a right of action for those individuals. If the appeals court’s error is allowed to stand, it will not only eliminate an essential civil rights safeguard for public employees and taxpayers, but it will also broadly prevent Arizonans whose rights have been violated from getting their day in court.
“There is no doubt that when Arizona lawmakers banned mandatory DEI trainings for state workers, they intended for those workers to have ability to challenge their employers in court,” said Jon Riches, Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute. “We’re now asking for the Arizona Supreme Court to correct the lower court’s error and restore Arizonans right to hold government agencies accountable when they violate the law.”
This will be the 16th time that Goldwater attorneys have appeared before the Arizona Supreme Court. Goldwater routinely argues in courts around the country that the government must remain accountable to the people.
Goldwater’s appearance at the Arizona Supreme Court also comes as voters in the state prepare to weigh in on Proposition 142, a constitutional amendment that will enshrine the nation’s strongest state protections against DEI and race-based “affirmative action.” Once approved by voters, Prop 142 will prohibit state universities from forcing students to complete DEI coursework to graduate, end state spending for DEI offices, and permanently close loopholes that allow the federal government to pressure schools and state agencies into engaging in race-based preferential treatment.
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