The lawsuit was filed by Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) on behalf of Do No Harm, an association of medical professionals.
The Supreme Court in June of 2023 ruled against racial quotes in university admissions but went on to say race can be considered for admissions to some degree.
In Tennessee, medical practitioners fall under the purview of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, while the state's Board of Chiropractic Examiners oversees chiropractors.
Established in 1901, the 12-member medical board must include nine licensed physicians and three nonphysicians. The chiropractic board, created in 1923, has seven members—five chiropractor physicians, one x-ray technician or therapy assistant, and one member of the public.
A state requirement for membership on both boards, however, has nothing to do with medicine or chiropractic care, and everything to do with race. Three separate state laws force the governor to consider race when deciding who can serve on these boards.
You can’t do that
PLF Attorney David Hoffa says that's illegal.
"There's similar rules in about 25 other states requiring this type of consideration of potential board members' race in their appointment to these types of professional licensing boards," says Hoffa. "This lawsuit is challenging the particular statutes in Tennessee but this is a phenomenon that's been happening across the United states, so I think it's important because it's a federally protected right that applies to protect all Americans' rights but also because there are similar laws in many other states that are discriminating on the basis of race for who is controlling the licensure of professionals and other types of regulatory boards throughout the country."
Specifically, the governor must appoint at least one African American to the medical board, and one racial minority to the chiropractic board. One chiropractor and two physician seats opened up in May 2024, and now Tennessee’s governor must fill the vacancies with at least one black physician and a chiropractor who is a racial minority.
Do No Harm is a diverse nonprofit organization of over 6,000 physicians, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients, and policymakers committed to ensuring equality in healthcare. It has several members who, because of the racial quota laws, are barred from consideration for their respective boards in Tennessee.
The case is Do No Harm v. William Lee II and was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Looking at podiatry board too
In addition to this case, PLF is currently challenging racial quotas for the Tennessee Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners.
