NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge has ruled against a conservative legal group that sought an immediate halt to the priority status for restaurants and bars owned by women and certain minorities in President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package.
U.S. District Judge Travis McDonough in Knoxville, Tennessee, denied a temporary restraining order last week in the lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.
The judge wrote that Congress had evidence that small businesses owned by minorities and women had been disproportionately hurt by the pandemic and previous COVID-19 relief programs had not been fairly distributed.
The group sued on behalf of a white male Tennessee restaurant owner.