Overview
- U.S. District Judge David Hittner ruled on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, that Houston must stop enforcing the race-conscious portions of its Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise Program because they violate the Equal Protection Clause.
- Hittner applied the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative-action framework and said the city failed to identify concrete, particularized past discrimination required to justify race-conscious remedies.
- The lawsuit was filed in 2023 by Jerry and Theresa Thompson, owners of two landscaping firms, who were represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation and argued the program froze them out of some contracts.
- The ruling strikes the race-based elements of both the city program and a similar Midtown Management District policy while allowing nonracial supports for small and women-owned businesses to continue.
- City officials had not immediately responded and legal appeals are expected, a development that could shape other challenges in Texas including the plaintiffs’ pending case against Harris County and alter how municipalities design contracting programs.