For the second time, there has been a successful challenge to the constitutionality of California law requiring increased diversity on boards of directors.

On May 13, 2022, Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis of Los Angeles Superior Court struck down California’s first board diversification law on the heels of an April 1, 2022, ruling by Judge Terry A. Green, also at Los Angeles Superior Court, each holding the respective board diversification law before them (one addressing gender discrimination and the other addressing racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation discrimination, respectively) to be unlawful. While these rulings are unlikely to be the last word on the viability of such statutes, they are the first to address their constitutionality head-on through lengthy, detailed rulings. As such, their reasoning may resonate with judges facing similar challenges in federal court and at the appellate level as well as in jurisdictions outside of California.