Press Release

Do No Harm and FAIR File Lawsuit Over Arkansas Racial Quotas

  • By Do No Harm Staff
  • March 26, 2025

RICHMOND, VA; March 26, 2025 – This week, Do No Harm and the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) filed a federal lawsuit challenging an Arkansas law imposing racial quotas on gubernatorial appointments to state licensing boards.

For example, Arkansas’s law requires at least one member of the five-person Occupational Therapy Examining Committee to be a racial minority. None of the current members meet this requirement, and three seats are open.

Do No Harm and FAIR are filing the lawsuit on behalf of two Arkansas natives who meet the committee’s requirements but are excluded because they are not racial minorities. Pacific Legal Foundation represents Do No Harm and FAIR.

“By imposing racial quotas on gubernatorial appointments, Arkansas is illegally discriminating against qualified applicants to its licensing boards,” said Stanley Goldfarb, MD, Chairman of Do No Harm. “Medical boards like the Occupational Therapy Examining Committee should be made up of the most qualified candidates to ensure that expertise is prioritized at every level of the healthcare community. Arkansas should prioritize merit over radical identity politics.”

“Arkansas cannot disqualify individuals from public service because of their race,” said Jeff Jennings, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “Courts have repeatedly struck down race-based appointment mandates as unconstitutional, and Arkansas should be no different. Public service should be based on qualifications, not immutable characteristics.”

To see Pacific Legal Foundation’s case page for Do No Harm, Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism v. Governor Sanders, click here.

Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. With 16,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and 14 countries, DNH has achieved over 10,000 media hits in top-tier publications and garnered widespread attention through numerous broadcast news appearances.