The California gender board diversity law may suffer the same fate.

On April 1, 2022, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry A. Green issued a summary judgment order finding that California Corporations Code § 301.4 (Assembly Bill 979 or AB 979), which requires publicly listed corporations headquartered in California to have board members from “underrepresented communities,” violates the Equal Protection Clause of the California Constitution. In the case, Crest v. Padilla II, plaintiff Judicial Watch mounted a facial challenge to the law, seeking a declaratory judgment arguing that the law was unconstitutional because it mandated quotas and therefore violated the state’s Equal Protection Clause.