Source: US News & World Report
“A federal judge in Missouri on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by the Republican-led state accusing Starbucks of using its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion as a pretext to systematically discriminate based on race, gender and sexual orientation. U.S. District Judge John Ross in St. Louis said the state’s case failed to prove that Starbucks actually discriminated against ‘even a single Missouri resident’ who worked at Starbucks or applied for a job there. Ross was appointed by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The office of Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a Republican, alleged that Starbucks had unlawfully tied executive pay to the company’s achieving racial and gender-based hiring quotas. The lawsuit was filed by Hanaway’s predecessor, Andrew Bailey, before he joined the Trump administration as co-deputy director of the FBI.” (02/05/26)