Professional Documents
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Lawsuit Real Estate Appraisers
Lawsuit Real Estate Appraisers
Lawsuit Real Estate Appraisers
INTRODUCTION
1. Alabama has a strong tradition of citizens offering their unique talents to serve on
discriminate based on a candidate’s race when making appointments to state boards, commissions,
and committees.
2. The Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board (AREAB) is one such board. AREAB
regulates, licenses, and investigates real estate appraisers to ensure they meet the high standards
of the profession. However, Alabama law requires the Governor to consider the race of potential
board members when making appointments to AREAB, and to exclude from consideration anyone
who will not satisfy AREAB’s racial quota of at least two members “of a minority race.” Ala. Code
§ 34-27A-4.
3. Such blatant racial discrimination against individuals who could otherwise sit on
unconstitutional.
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organization that is dedicated to eliminating racial distinctions and preferences in America. It has
members who are qualified, ready, willing, and able to be appointed to AREAB—including
Member A, a citizen of Alabama who supports public service and property rights and has applied
for the vacant public member position on AREAB. But because Member A is not a racial minority,
5. The Alliance brings this lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to vindicate its members’
constitutional rights, to ensure that every qualified citizen in Alabama has the equal right to serve
on AREAB, and to ensure that Alabamians are regulated by a board whose members are not
6. This action arises under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. This Court has jurisdiction over federal claims under 28 U.S.C. § 1331
(federal question) and § 1343(a)(3) (redress for deprivation of civil rights). Declaratory relief is
7. Venue is proper in this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1391(b)(1) & (2) because Defendant
resides in this district and because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the
PARTIES
mission is to challenge racial classifications and racial preferences in America. The Alliance has
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one or more members who are citizens of Alabama, who are not racial minorities, and who are
9. Defendant Kay Ivey is the Governor of the State of Alabama. Governor Ivey is
required by Alabama law to make all appointments to AREAB. Section 34-27A-4 of the Alabama
Code and Rule 780-X-1-.02 of Alabama’s Administrative Code require Governor Ivey to consider
race when making appointments to AREAB. Governor Ivey is sued in her official capacity.
FACTUAL ALLEGATIONS
10. The Alabama Real Estate Appraisers Board (AREAB) was created in 1990 to regulate
11. The Alabama legislature created AREAB in response to Section 1117 of the Federal
Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FFIRREA), which provided that
“a State may establish a State appraiser certifying and licensing agency” for the purpose of
“assur[ing] the availability of State certified and licensed appraisers for the performance in a State
of appraisals in federally related transactions and to assure effective supervision of the activities
of certified and licensed appraisers.” Pub. L. No. 101-73, § 1117, 103 Stat. 515 (1989) (codified at
12 U.S.C. § 3346).
12. Neither FFIRREA nor any other federal law requires establishing a racial quota for a
13. AREAB’s stated mission is to protect the public interest by ensuring that consumers
of real estate appraisal services receive such services from appraisers who are fully qualified under
state and federal law. In connection with that mission, AREAB interprets the laws, rules, and
regulations governing real estate appraisal in Alabama. Its responsibilities include administering
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testing of potential licensees, licensing qualified real estate appraisers, managing continuing
disciplinary action against licensed real estate appraisers that violate its rules or regulations.
14. Under Alabama law, AREAB is comprised of nine members, all of whom are
appointed by the Governor. Seven of the members must be real property appraisers (one from each
company, and one must be a member of the public who does not do real estate appraisal work.
15. From the time of its enactment in 1990, the statute creating AREAB included a racial
quota, requiring that two of the nine board members “shall be of a minority race.” Ala. Code § 34-
27A-4. In 2004, the Alabama legislature slightly modified this language to say that “no less than
two” members shall be racial minorities; it also added a requirement that “[t]he overall membership
of the board shall be inclusive and reflect the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic
16. Alabama’s Administrative Code includes these same requirements, stating that “no
less than two of the nine board members shall be of a minority race” and that “[t]he overall
membership of the board shall be inclusive and reflect the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural,
17. So long as this racial quota remains in place, members of the Alliance who are not
racial minorities will never receive equal consideration for openings on AREAB.
18. The public or “at large” member position on AREAB is currently vacant and has been
19. There are currently fewer than two racial minorities on AREAB.
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20. The Alliance has one or more members who are not racial minorities and who are
qualified, ready, willing, and able to be appointed as public members of AREAB, including
Member A.
21. Member A is a member of the Alliance and an adult citizen of Alabama who resides
in Prattville. She is not a member of any racial minority group and does not identify as a racial
minority. Member A is a staunch believer in and advocate for the importance of both public service
22. Member A is qualified, ready, willing, and able to be appointed to AREAB. She meets
all the nonracial requirements to be appointed to AREAB. Neither Member A nor her spouse are
But because of the racial quota in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-.02, she
Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin Code 780-X-1-.02 Violate the Equal Protection
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
24. Plaintiff hereby realleges and incorporates by reference the allegations contained in
25. Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, “[n]o State shall
… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S. Const.
amend. XIV, § 1.
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26. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, “[e]very person who, under color of any statute, ordinance,
regulation, custom, or usage, of any State …, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the
United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights,
privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party
injured ….”
27. Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-.02 require the Governor to
consider and make decisions on the basis of the race of potential board members when making
appointments to AREAB.
28. In considering and appointing members to AREAB, the Governor is acting in her
29. Governmental classifications on the basis of race violate the Equal Protection Clause
30. The racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-.02 does
31. The racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-.02 does
not remediate any specific instances of racial discrimination that violated the Constitution or
statutes.
32. Even if the racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-
.02 served a compelling government interest, it is not narrowly tailored to remediating past,
intentional discrimination.
33. The racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code 780-X-1-.02
stereotypes individuals on the basis of race, mandates racial quotas, requires racial balancing, has
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1. A declaration that the racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and Ala. Admin. Code
2. A permanent prohibitory injunction forbidding the Governor and her agents from
enforcing, or attempting to enforce, the racial mandate in Ala. Code § 34-27A-4 and
3. An award of attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses in this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C.
§ 1988; and
Respectfully submitted,