Griffin: ‘As a general matter, under the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot treat its citizens differently based on their race’

LITTLE ROCK – Following the settlement of a federal lawsuit today that had been brought in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas against the Arkansas Minority Health Commission, Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement:

“The Arkansas Minority Health Commission through its executive director settled a lawsuit today brought by Do No Harm, a diverse group of physicians, healthcare professionals, medical students, patients and policymakers. The lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of a scholarship sponsored by the Commission that limited eligibility based on race.

“To resolve this matter, the Commission agreed it will no longer offer the scholarship and will not reinstate it with limitations for eligibility based on race. Do No Harm agreed to dismiss its lawsuit and pursue no other remedies against the Commission.

“As a general matter, under the U.S. Constitution, the government cannot treat its citizens differently based on their race. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution promises all Americans equal treatment, regardless of their race. Policies departing from this fundamental principle may be upheld only if they are ‘narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.’ In this case, although States have an interest in remedying past discrimination, the scholarship’s stated goal ‘to help increase diversity’ does not meet the 14th Amendment’s stringent requirement and is unconstitutional.”

About Attorney General Tim Griffin

Tim Griffin was elected attorney general of Arkansas on November 8, 2022. He was elected lieutenant governor of Arkansas on November 4, 2014, and was re-elected for his second four-year term on November 6, 2018. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District. For the 113th Congress, he was a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority. In the 112th Congress, he served as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. Griffin has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve’s Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for over 25 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault in Mosul, Iraq). He is currently serving as the Staff Judge Advocate (SJA) for the 81st Readiness Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Prior to his current post, Griffin served as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment (LOD) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and a senior legislative advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin holds a master’s degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush. Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.

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