Law demands corporations have directors who are women

A Superior Court judge in California has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against a new state requirement that all corporation boards have at least one person who identifies as a woman.

The case was brought by Judicial Watch in Los Angeles County on behalf of three California taxpayers after the legislature adopted SB 826 and the governor signed it.

The government watchdog contends the law violates the state constitution, because it demands a quota system for female representation on company boards.

An analysis by the California Assembly, before the bill was adopted, warned it likely would be challenged on equal protection grounds.

"The use of a quota-like system, as proposed by this bill, to remedy past discrimination and differences in opportunity may be difficult to defend."

Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said, when signing it, that "serious legal concerns have been raised."

"I don’t minimize the potential flaws that indeed may prove fatal to its ultimate implementation," he said.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said he's pleased that "the court saw through California's flimsy claim that taxpayers had no standing to sue to stop this brazenly unconstitutional gender-quota law."

"Even Gov. Brown, in signing the law, worried that it is unconstitutional," he said. "Judicial Watch’s California taxpayer clients are stepping up to make sure that California’s Constitution, which prohibits sex discrimination, is upheld."

The organization said there are 625 publicly traded companies based in California that are subject to the requirement, but only about 280 of them have come into compliance.

Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis concluded that the defendant's claim that the taxpayers who brought the lawsuit don't have a right to sue was wrong.

"A taxpayer can bring suit against a government body in California under common law or statute," she found. "To state a claim, plaintiffs must allege they have paid taxes within a year before the filing of the action and that defendant is an officer or agent of the state and is expending taxpayer funds illegally."