Federal judge blocks USDA debt relief for minority farmers

A Florida federal court issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday blocking the Biden administration's program to forgive agricultural debts to farmers of color. 

"The program was already temporarily on hold, due to a separate restraining order in a case by a white farmer in Wisconsin. However, even if that Wisconsin order is reconsidered or even reversed in July, when a ruling is expected, this new nationwide injunction would still keep the program on hold for some time," Laura Reiley reports for The Washington Post. "The Florida case is considered the first nationwide preliminary injunction, said lawyers for the group Pacific Legal Foundation, which filed the lawsuit in May" for white Florida farmer Scott Wynn, who says he also needs debt relief and is being discriminated against him due to race.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard wrote in her decision that Congress "must heed its obligation to do away with governmentally imposed discrimination based on race," but "also made clear that the Agriculture Department could continue to prepare to deliver the debt relief until the program is found to be “constitutionally permissible," Reiley reports.