Florida Democratic, Black lawmakers slam AG Uthmeier's MLK Day memo on racism laws: "Dragging our state backward"

Calling it "an attack" on people of color, House and Senate Democrats on Thursday decried a legal memo issued this week by Attorney General James Uthmeier that said numerous Florida laws designed to combat racism are discriminatory.

Uthmeier's memo, issued Monday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said state laws giving preferences to minorities or requiring quotas are racially discriminatory. The attorney general said he would refuse to "defend or enforce" such laws.

"Racial discrimination is wrong. It is also unconstitutional," he wrote.

Under Florida law, the attorney general must provide legal opinions requested by people including the governor, Cabinet members and legislative leaders. Uthmeier's memo said that he requested the opinion.

Florida House and Senate members say the attorney general's memo is "not reform"

More than a dozen Black House and Senate members gathered Thursday for a news conference in the Capitol to criticize the opinion. Gov. Ron DeSantis in February 2025 appointed Uthmeier to serve as attorney general, and Uthmeier is running for election to the Cabinet post in November.

Eliminating the programs targeted by Uthmeier would unravel years of progress aimed at ensuring Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses can better compete for government contracts and requiring minority representation on government boards and councils, the Democratic lawmakers said.

"These laws exist because discrimination exists," Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee, told reporters.

Uthmeier served as DeSantis' chief of staff before being appointed attorney general and helped the governor quash policies and programs designed to foster diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, in business, government and education.

The laws targeted in Uthmeier's opinion "represent decades of bipartisan policy and carefully tailored programs that, now, with the stroke of a pen, are in jeopardy," Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, said.

"In effect, the opinion seeks to discourage acknowledging race at all when crafting solutions to inequality," he added.

Sen. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, called Uthmeier's actions a "direct threat" to the progress made by Black people over more than half a century.

"They risk dragging our state backward toward a pre-integration era, one in which power is concentrated, representation is diminished, and trust in our institutions is eroded. These actions do not strengthen Florida. They weaken it," Bernard said.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, told reporters that Uthmeier released the opinion on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to provoke Black lawmakers.

"It was a taunt," she said.

The Democrats pointed to bills filed for this year's legislative session that would, in part, carry out Uthmeier's wishes.

As an example, one measure (SB 1662) would repeal affirmative-action requirements in state agencies and in state attorneys' offices and eliminate other parts of Florida laws addressing diversity.

A number of other bills also include provisions that would eliminate diversity or affirmative action in education and other areas.

The protections in law were created "because discrimination existed and still exists in hiring and contracting and access and opportunity," Rep. RaShon Young, D-Orlando, said.

"They exist because talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. And Florida has a responsibility, a duty of care, if you will, to protect its people from harm, including economic harm, and including the harm of being locked out or left out or sidelined from opportunity by systems that were never neutral from the beginning," he added.

Bernard said DeSantis should remove Uthmeier from office.

"This is not reform. It is a deliberate dismantling of best practices in the pursuit of political power, and it should alarm every Floridian, regardless of party affiliation," Bernard said.