Earlier this week, Florida Legal professional Common James Uthmeier dropped an official opinion declaring that he’s determined to void scores of civil rights legal guidelines in Florida as unconstitutional. After noting that “racial discrimination is fallacious” — the primary half of the time-honored, “I’m not racist, however…” components — Uthmeier launched into his case that the REAL racial discrimination is towards white folks.
And by “earlier this week,” we imply very particularly on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. What a loopy coincidence! Of all the times to disrupt the information cycle with a focused message to white grievance voters, he selected MLK Day? And he wasn’t even the one state AG to do that, you say? Wild!
But in addition, in an act of bureaucratic auto-eroticism, Uthmeier issued the opinion primarily based on a proper request from… himself. “Subsequently, I requested, and I’m now giving, an official opinion in writing on a query of regulation referring to my official duties,” Uthmeier wrote in a piece flagged on social media by reporter Jason Garcia. “As Florida’s chief authorized officer, the constitutionality of legal guidelines that search to mandate discrimination primarily based on race pertains to my official duties as Legal professional Common.”
Are these voices within the room with us proper now, James?
Florida regulation offers that the state’s AG should present authorized opinions “on the written requisition of the Governor, a member of the Cupboard, the top of a division within the govt department,” and legislative management. The authors of that regulation most likely by no means thought of the likelihood {that a} grandstanding legal professional normal, as a member of the cupboard, would attempt to get excessive on their very own provide of authorized opinions. The regulation is modeled on an attorney-client dynamic: somebody asks the state’s official lawyer and the state’s lawyer solutions.
Self-dealing is, after all, an indicator of recent GOP politics, so fairly than anticipate a consumer request, Uthmeier gave himself just a little deal with for MLK Day, managing to get taxpayers to pay for an anti-affirmative motion marketing campaign stunt. On that observe, the Daily Wire claims it “first obtained” the opinion, lest there be any doubt that that is simply pre-buttered tradition conflict content material. For these not retaining rating, final yr Uthmeier tried to piggyback off the Trump administration’s assault on Biglaw by using his office to scold law firms for having vague “DEI” policies.
As a result of there’s no different motive for this opinion. In a traditional, ethically sound world, a state legal professional normal would respect that attorney-client framework and anticipate, say, Governor Ron DeSantis to formally search an opinion bashing affirmative motion. Or, if Uthmeier insisted upon bringing the request of his personal volition, the workplace would fee some right-wing regulation agency or regulation professor to paper up a tidy memo. As a former Jones Day associate, Uthmeier definitely is aware of the place to search out some Federalist Society veterans to DoorDash over some half-hearted originalism.
The issue with following normal process is sharing credit score. Regardless of how strident the opinion Uthmeier may write, folks would credit score DeSantis for ordering the opinion. And regardless of how a lot Uthmeier may stress that he requested it, he couldn’t management the marketing campaign rhetoric of an opinion farmed out to a regulation agency. With this transfer he can have his cake and ensure it’s not embellished by any minority-owned companies too.
Other than presenting warmed-over conservative authorized philosophy tropes like “The way in which to cease discrimination on the idea of race is to cease discriminating on the idea of race” — a line that should hit arduous in case you’re silly — the opinion doesn’t actually do a lot. The statutes stay on the books and courts will in the end determine whether or not they keep there. And, in case you’re betting your mortgage on the prediction markets, you would do worse than assuming the Supreme Court docket lastly snuffs out the legacy of the civil rights motion. Till then, the job of the state legal professional normal is to implement the legal guidelines the opposite branches have created.
Even when he wished to push the partitions of the separation of powers and refuse to implement the regulation, nothing about that determination would require an announcement both. This was only a weblog submit on official letterhead.
And if Florida’s opinion was a message board submit, Texas AG Ken Paxton used the vacation to uncork a self-important Substack screed. Versus Florida’s six pages of argument, Paxton used Dr. King’s vacation for a 74-page digital doorstop railing towards all manifestations of DEI. Has Paxton by no means heard that brevity is the soul of bigotry?
At the very least Uthmeier had the decency to ask himself permission in a legally themed Sméagol and Gollum act. Paxton doesn’t even trifle with the authorized onanism of requesting his personal opinion and simply throws his taxpayer-funded workplace into a vacation assault on racial range to suck up headlines simply in time for his contentious Senate main battle towards the comparatively moderate-framed John Cornyn. Federalist Papers, revisionist historical past about Reconstruction, compulsory claims that MLK believed in a “color-blind” society… this factor has all of it. Now that’s a regulation college gunner in motion!
Regardless of how they justified it, taking the unilateral step of releasing racial grievance rants on Martin Luther King Day is clown habits. It’s performative politics at its most poisonous, the place information and accomplishments are secondary to creating positive the general public understands precisely who’s keen to take it upon themselves to submit up in that proverbial schoolhouse door.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Legislation and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Be happy to email any ideas, questions, or feedback. Observe him on Twitter or Bluesky in case you’re interested by regulation, politics, and a wholesome dose of faculty sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
