Fifteen state attorneys general urged a group of top corporate leaders on April 15 to drop their companies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Such programs are “divisive” and “unlawful,” the state officeholders, led by Andrew Bailey of Missouri, said in correspondence addressed to Business Roundtable.

The six-page letter was signed by 14 other state attorneys general, including James Uthmeier of Florida, Chris Carr of Georgia, David Yost of Ohio, and Todd Rokita of Indiana. All of the attorneys general are Republicans.

“The Business Roundtable has decided that racist DEI initiatives are more important than [the] free market,” Bailey told The Epoch Times.

“I am fighting to protect working Americans and investors from these woke political trends and blatant racial discrimination.”

Business Roundtable’s members include CEOs of major corporations including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Greg Adams of Kaiser Permanente, Tim Cook of Apple, Kathy Warden of Northrop Grumman, and Dr. Albert Bourla of Pfizer.

These members “represent every sector of the economy and bring a unique and important perspective to bear on policy issues that impact the economy,” according to the group’s website.

In the correspondence, the attorneys general urged Business Roundtable “to abandon the unlawful and misguided DEI initiatives that have for too long harmed businesses and consumers alike.”

Many of the corporations embrace “divisive DEI policies” that “risk exposing [their] organizations to substantial liability,” the letter said.

After CEOs “abandoned their fiduciary responsibilities in exchange for social cachet,” state attorneys general have carried out “investigations of major corporations under state consumer protection laws,” the letter said.

For example, after the United Nations-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance—which aims to have companies change investment practices to support climate goals—was investigated by 19 state attorneys general, all the banks that were investigated withdrew from the alliance, the letter said.

In January, financial services company Morgan Stanley said that it was withdrawing from the alliance but would continue to support emissions targets.

State attorneys general have also sued under state human rights laws “to push back against illegal corporate racial preference policies,” the letter said.

The letter noted that in August 2019, 181 CEOs signed a “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” that outlined “a modern standard for corporate responsibility” that moved away from the idea “that corporations exist principally to serve shareholders.”

The CEOs committed in the statement “to lead their companies for the benefit of all stakeholders—customers, employees, suppliers, communities and shareholders.”

“The American dream is alive, but fraying,” then-Business Roundtable chairman Jamie Dimon said at the time.

“Major employers are investing in their workers and communities because they know it is the only way to be successful over the long term,” he said. “These modernized principles reflect the business community’s unwavering commitment to continue to push for an economy that serves all Americans.”

However, the new letter from the attorneys general criticized the 2019 “redefinition” by Business Roundtable.

“To abandon what had long been the guiding principle of free market capitalism—maximizing profits for shareholders—in exchange for lofty (yet undefinable) ‘social’ goals has produced a windfall for progressive social causes.”

After the redefinition, many corporations embraced “unlawful DEI practices,” including programs “favoring some racial groups over others,” the letter stated.

The letter came after President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders earlier this year that curtailed the federal government’s DEI programs.

One of the documents, Executive Order 14173, targeted “dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”

The executive orders are being challenged in the courts.

The Epoch Times reached out to Business Roundtable for comment. No reply was received by publication time.

Austin Alonzo contributed to this report.

This article by Matthew Vadum appeared April 16, 2025, in The Epoch Times.

Photo: Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican. Official portrait, 2023.