“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm.

The legal tide is turning against reverse discrimination. In Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, the Supreme Court is reviewing whether Marlean Ames, a straight white woman, was unfairly denied a promotion in favor of a gay colleague. The case challenges the higher burden of proof long imposed on majority-group plaintiffs — one the high court now seems likely to overturn, possibly leveling the playing field in discrimination claims.

In Shannon Phillips v. Starbucks, a jury awarded $25.6 million to a white regional manager, finding that race played a key role in her termination. Meanwhile, a February memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi warned federal agencies to eliminate race-based practices, signaling a broader rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates.

Together, these developments reinforce a growing consensus: Identity-based discrimination, regardless of the target, is wrong. The Federal Emergency Management Agency not only prioritized hiring based on DEI categories but took it a step further — actively discriminating against qualified people who were not part of a protected class. My team experienced this firsthand while working as contractors for FEMA in Puerto Rico. Initially embarrassed and unsure whether discrimination against people like us was even illegal, we hesitated to file a complaint. But the abuse became impossible to ignore. When we reported it, FEMA retaliated and buried it.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, FEMA was charged with leading the recovery. But instead........

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