A federal judge in Texas ordered a federal agency, created 55 years ago to assist minority business owners, to open business to all races.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman said the agency violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause through the agency’s basis that some races are “’socially or economically disadvantaged’ and … thus entitled to services.” The ruling bars the agency from using an applicant’s race to determine if they can receive assistance.

“If courts mean what they say when they ascribe supreme importance to constitutional rights, the federal government may not flagrantly violate such rights with impunity,” Pittman wrote in the ruling. “The [Minority Business Development Agency] has done so for years. Time’s up.”

The MBDA was established during the Nixon administration as a division of the Department of Commerce to focus on developing and advocating minority-owned businesses.

The ruling comes after the Supreme Court ended affirmative action last year in its rulings against Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The court ruled colleges and universities could not use race-conscious programs in their admissions processes.

“Like Harvard’s program in [Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard], the MBDA sees ‘an inherent benefit in race qua race – race for race’s sake,’” Pittman wrote. “Such disregard for the necessity of race or for race-neutral alternatives is unconstitutional.”

Following the Harvard and UNC cases, a Tennessee judge ruled the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development program’s provision that indicated race could have social disadvantage was unconstitutional.

Three white business owners sued the agency in 2023 after they were denied services from the agency. Pittman temporarily blocked local business centers from denying assistance while the lawsuit was taking place.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“Any member of a group not presumed socially or economically disadvantaged may petition for a presumption of disadvantage, regardless of race,” Justice Department attorneys representing the MBDA said.

The ruling applies to the agency nationwide.