The City of Asheville is trying to make a racial discrimination lawsuit go away.

Last fall, several residents sued Asheville for rejecting their applications to the City’s Human Relations Commission. The commission was formed to “promote and improve human relations and advance equity.” The rejected applicants were undeniably qualified for that work: One was completing a master’s degree in social work, one helped secure housing for the homeless, one was a former PTO president, and one worked for the city for 30 years.

But the candidates didn’t meet Asheville’s identity preferences for commission members: Asheville expressly wanted to appoint people who were black, Latinx, Native American, Asian American, or LGBTQ, or who met certain criteria, like living in public housing or having a disability. All applicants for the commission were asked to identify their race.

The rejected applicants were white. When they applied to open seats on the nine-member commission, the city ignored their applications, appointed two other applicants to the commission, and re-advertised the remaining open positions — preferring, it seems, to have empty seats rather than public servants with the wrong skin color. In city charts documenting the demographics of the partially filled commission, the members’ names are listed next to columns with an “X” crudely demarcating their identity groups — female, black; male, black; female, Latinx.

Unfortunately, Asheville isn’t the only local government that fills public boards and commissions according to race. A Pacific Legal Foundation study found that 25 states have race- or sex-based mandates for certain government boards, including boards with regulatory oversight of fields like social work, dentistry, and pharmacy. And there are many more than that.

These preferences and mandates are plainly illegal. The Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution guarantees that “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The government cannot block certain people from public positions because of the color of their skin.

Represented pro bono by Pacific Legal Foundation, the rejected Asheville applicants filed a federal lawsuit on Sept. 26, 2023, with John Miall — the applicant who’d previously worked for the city — as lead plaintiff. By that point, Miall’s application to the commission had languished unanswered since March.

Less than three weeks after the lawsuit was filed, after ignoring his application for six months, Asheville rushed to appoint Miall to the commission. The city’s intent was almost comically obvious: to make the lawsuit go away. (Asheville also filed a motion to dismiss that remains pending at district court as of publication.)

But the lawsuit should proceed. Although Miall has been allowed to slip through Asheville’s race-based barriers — and will no doubt serve his community well on the commission — the other plaintiffs remain blocked. And no amount of last-minute maneuvering will change the fundamental principle at stake: The government cannot treat people differently on the basis of race.

This especially matters when it comes to granting (or blocking) access to the mechanisms and bodies of the government itself. Every American should feel that the door to public service is open to them. The ability to involve yourself in your government is a key feature of democracy: If there is an open role to be filled, apply. If you want your voice to be heard, speak. Everyone should feel empowered to participate in the government as an individual — by your vote, volunteering, or applying to open roles. Your worth to your government shouldn’t be an X in a racial identity column; it should be you.

The district court is expected to rule soon on Asheville’s motion to dismiss. If the lawsuit proceeds and the plaintiffs successfully challenge the commission selection process, Asheville will have to start evaluating applicants by their individual voice, not their race.