Republican-led states call on Costco to drop DEI

A group of Republican attorneys general are demanding Costco end all of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies as a plethora of other retailers drop their programs.

In a letter to the wholesale store on Monday, the 19 Republicans demand Costco repeal their DEI policies within the next 30 days. If not, the attorneys general say, the company must provide an explanation as to why.

The GOP officials, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, argue the company’s DEI policies are “discriminatory.”

“Although Costco’s motto is 'do the right thing,' it appears that the company is doing the wrong thing — clinging to DEI policies that courts and businesses have rejected as illegal,” the letter states. “Costco should treat every person equally and based on their merit, rather than based on divisive and discriminatory DEI practices.”

The letter points to President Trump’s recent orders to dismantle DEI in the federal government and private sector. That order, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunity, states that DEI policies “not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”

During the 2024 campaign cycle, Republicans across the nation, including Trump, vowed to repeal DEI policies.

While companies including Target, Tractor Supply Co., John Deere, McDonald’s and Walmart have all rolled back their DEI policies, Costco has been among retailers to double down on theirs.

Just this month, more than 98 percent of shareholders voted against a proposal to evaluate any risks posed by its DEI practices. One shareholder, Jeff Raikes, co-founder of the Raikes Foundation and former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, argued in an op-ed for Forbes that "opportunistic politicians have been trying to frighten and divide us by making DEI a dirty word.”

DEI has come under fire since the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, which the letter highlights multiple times. Race-neutral practices, the letter argues, honor the founding ideals of this country.

“Costco should 'do the right thing' by following the law and repealing its DEI policies,” the letter concludes.

In addition to Paxton and Bird, the letter was also signed by Kansas’s Kris Kobach; Alabama’s Steve Marshall; Louisiana’s Liz Murrill; Arkansas’s Tim Griffin; Missouri’s Andrew T. Bailey; Georgia’s Chris Carr; Montana’s Austin Knudsen; Idaho’s Raúl R. Labrador; Nebraska's Mike Hilgers; Kentucky’s Rusell M. Coleman; North Dakota’s Drew Wrigley; Ohio’s Dave Yost; Oklahoma’s Gentner Drummond; South Carolina’s Alan Wilson; South Dakota’s Marty Jackley; Tennessee’s Jonathan Skrmetti; and Virginia’s Jason S. Miyares.

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