Trial to determine if requiring women board members is legal
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When then-California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the nation's first law requiring women on boards of publicly traded companies, he suggested it might not survive legal challenges.
Three years later, a judge will begin hearing evidence Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that could undo the law credited with giving more women seats in boardrooms traditionally dominated by men. The California law has spurred other states to adopt or consider similar laws.
The conservative legal group Judicial Watch brought the lawsuit claiming it's illegal to use taxpayer funds to enforce a law that violates the equal protection clause of the California Constitution by mandating a gender-based quota.
“They are creating a classification that either prefers or discriminates against one class or in preference of another,” attorney Robert Patrick Sticht said. He said the state doesn't have a compelling government interest to create the mandate.
Another conservative legal group has filed a separate lawsuit in federal court claiming the law violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Former Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who authored the legislation, said the bill did not impose a quota because boards don't need a certain percentage of women. Corporations can meet the requirement by adding women without undermining the rights of male board members.
She said the plaintiffs should be embarrassed for claiming the law is discriminatory.
“I find that to be incredibly ironic and hypocritical," Jackson said. "Any time you try to make significant change to the status quo the powers that have been institutionalized to this kind of discrimination are likely to fight back.”
The law required publicly traded companies headquartered in California to have one member who...
