We have written about Blum before, but the Washington Free Beacon does a deep dive here.
He Brought Down NASDAQ’s DEI Policies. Then He Went to the Gaza Border.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 and clarity, Blum discussed the significance of the NASDAQ ruling, the next stage of the fight against racial preferences, the mood in Israel after Donald Trump’s election, and the joys of Israeli farmwork.Aaron Sibarium: Most Americans will never serve on a corporate board, and board members have only limited involvement in the day-to-day operations of companies. Why was it so important to challenge the NASDAQ rule?Edward Blum: While few people ever serve on a corporate board, most Americans own stocks directly or indirectly. Requiring race and sex quotas for boards inhibits corporations from choosing the best-qualified candidates to serve. This outcome serves no one, including those chosen because of their sex and race.
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