SOUTHERN ISRAEL—On December 11, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down NASDAQ’s diversity rules for corporate boards. The rules, which had been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), required boards to have at least one member who identifies as a minority or LGBTQ.
The decision was another high-profile victory for Edward Blum, the activist behind 2023’s landmark Supreme Court case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned race-based college admissions.
Born to Yiddish-speaking cobblers in Benton Harbor, Mich., Blum has cited his Jewish upbringing as a formative influence on his values. At the time that the NASDAQ decision came down, he was in Israel on a moshav, or farmer’s co-op, pruning tomatoes about three miles from the Gaza border.
The Washington Free Beacon spoke to Blum about his recent victory and his time in the Jewish state. During the interview, which has been edited for length…
