Should every employer in the United States be forced to report the race and gender of their employees to the federal government, and then should the federal government post that information publicly?
The Democrats President Joe Biden appointed to the Federal Communications Commission think they should, at least for all television and radio stations.
Last week, the FCC voted 3-2 on party lines to issue a new order forcing all television and radio stations to submit a form annually to the agency identifying the race and gender of employees. Although these data are allowed to be collected by law, the FCC has not required broadcasters to submit it for the past 20 years. No one disputes that over that time, the broadcast industry has become more diverse.
Despite this lack of need for racial data collection, the law is still on the books, and the FCC has the authority to collect that data. But the FCC intends to post it publicly, identifying employees by name.
The FCC justifies this by claiming it will allow “third-party testing of the accuracy” of the information submitted. However, the FCC does not say how third parties will verify the data. It also claims posting data on specific stations is necessary to bolster “our ability to conduct analyses of trends across different communications sectors.” This is a non sequitur. The FCC can analyze the data without making them public.
The real reason Democrats who control the FCC want the public informed of these data is to help third parties bully and harass employers whose hiring they deem insufficiently diverse. Activist groups boast that this is what they would do with the data.
“This is no benign disclosure regime,” Republican FCC Commissioner Brandon Carr said in dissent. “The record makes clear that the FCC is choosing to publish these scorecards for one and only one reason: to ensure that individual businesses are targeted and pressured into making decisions based on race and gender.”
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Federal courts have invalidated two similar FCC schemes to enable activist groups to press private employers into hiring the “right” people. The new order assuredly will be struck down by the courts for violating the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment as well.
But while broadcasters will ultimately be spared from racist bean counting, it does not excuse the Biden administration for again using the immense power of the federal government to divide the nation by race. When he was elected, Biden promised to be “a president who seeks not to divide, but unify.” Forcing employers to divide and count staff by race and then publicly posting those data can only lead to mistrust and division. The FCC should rescind its order before the courts make it do so.