Judges Halt Race and Gender Priority for Restaurant Relief Grants

Lawsuits brought by white business owners challenging a policy that prioritized applicants for pandemic relief grants on the basis of gender and race have thrown the federal government’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund into turmoil.

Tens of thousands of applicants who expected an easier path through the $28.6 billion aid program are now stuck in limbo, and nearly 3,000 restaurant owners whose grants were approved have been told they can’t be paid.

The money is running out fast: The program has distributed $27.5 billion to about 100,000 applicants, an agency official said on Monday.

Gregory León, the owner of Amilinda in Milwaukee, was told last month that he’d be getting a grant. But over the weekend, he and 2,964 other applicants were notified that federal court rulings in Texas and Tennessee had halted their payments.