In a letter, the coalition said the intent of the bill was good, but expressed concern that the legislation “potentially elevates” gender “as a priority over other aspects of diversity.”
“If there are two qualified candidates for a director position, one male and one female,” the letter said, the bill “would require the company to choose the female candidate and deny the male candidate the position, based on gender.”
And that has raised legal concerns.
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who has written about the bill, said on Sunday that it amounts to a “blatant gender preference.” To pass legal muster, she said, a law of this kind must show that there is both an important governmental reason for it, and that there is not a better way to achieve the outcome.
“I don’t think the courts will uphold the law,” she said, adding that legal challenges could surface as soon as next week. “I so, so strongly believe that we don’t have anything near gender equality. And I really don’t think the government mandating it is the answer. You could have incentives, tax breaks or preferential government treatment if you reach certain diversity thresholds.”
Professor Levinson also said she believed that the move by Mr. Brown amounted to an “enormous raising of a certain finger” to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In essence, she said, it was Mr. Brown’s “MeToo moment.”
“If ever there was a week to sign this bill, it was this week,” she said. “Governor Brown is not really in the business of liking to sign laws that are subject to serious legal challenges.”
Mr. Brown, though, signed it anyway. And as has become his habit over decades in political office, Mr. Brown sprinkled a hint of historical whimsy into the conclusion of his signing letter.
“As far back as 1886, and before women were even allowed to vote, corporations have been considered persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment,” he wrote. “Given all the special privileges that corporations have enjoyed for so long, it’s high time corporate boards include the people who constitute more than half the ‘persons’ in America.”
