Laws demanding race-based state action are unconstitutional, Florida AG declares

"The question of law presented here is: Are Florida laws that mandate discrimination based on race by giving preferences to certain racial groups, using race-based classifications, or employing racial quotas, constitutional? In short, the answer is no. Any laws requiring race-based state action are presumptively unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause and Article I, section 2, of Florida's Constitution," he noted.

"As Attorney General, I and my office must honor the U.S. and Florida Constitutions' guarantee of equal protection under the law. Because enforcing and obeying these discriminatory laws would violate those bedrock legal guarantees, those laws are unconstitutional," he noted. "My office, therefore, will not defend or enforce any of these discriminatory provisions."

Uthmeier's opinion was issued on Monday as Americans mark the federal holiday that honors Martin Luther King Jr., the iconic civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968.