America First Legal Sues HHS, CMS, and HRSA Over Biden-Era Scheme to Prioritize Organ Transplants Based on Race and Ethnicity

02.07.2025 16:30

America First Legal (AFL) has filed suit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for failing to comply with a lawful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request related to the Biden regime’s push for racially discriminatory organ transplant policies.

According to the complaint, AFL submitted a FOIA request in April 2023 seeking records related to the Biden regime’s “equity” agenda infiltrating the nation’s organ donation system.

At the heart of the legal battle is President Biden’s February 2023 executive order directing all federal agencies to embed “equity” into their operations. HHS and its subordinate agencies responded by advancing race-based audits, race-conscious data reporting, and a “Modernization Initiative” that includes plans to break up the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) — the non-profit entity responsible for administering the national organ transplant system — for the alleged purpose of addressing “racial inequities.”

AFL warns this is not just bad policy — it’s unlawful. Under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, organ allocation must be determined by medical criteria, not skin color.

Despite repeated attempts to clarify and narrow their FOIA request, AFL was met with silence, shifting personnel, and empty promises. At one point, HRSA admitted it had collected over 201 gigabytes of records — the equivalent of over 20 million pages — but still failed to produce a single document.

Statement from Attorney Will Scolinos, America First Legal Counsel

The Biden Administration infected the federal government with ‘equity,’ replacing traditional principles of fairness and need with race-conscious criteria. The last administration’s pervasive directives requiring consideration of immutable characteristics like race, color, and ethnicity — to make healthcare more ‘equitable’ — should concern all Americans. AFL is determined to uncover the complete scope of Biden-era DEI policies and will continue to take decisive action to restore colorblind healthcare.

According to the press release:

Shortly after taking office, President Biden signed Executive Order 13985, “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” to institutionalize his administration’s “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) agenda across the federal government.

This Executive Order directed federal agencies to conduct an “Equity Assessment” to identify whether underserved communities and their members face systemic barriers to participating in federal programs and to produce an equity action plan for addressing those alleged barriers.

In response, in December 2021, CMS issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public comments to “Advance Equity and Reduce Disparities in Organ Transplantation.”

In January 2022, HRSA announced new data reporting protocols to highlight the race and ethnicity of transplant recipients. Two months later, HRSA announced a “modernization initiative” that would “strengthen … equity … in the organ donation and transplantation system.”

On April 3, 2023, AFL filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking documents relevant to the Biden Administration’s plans for infusing racial equity into the organ transplantation system.

Despite acknowledging AFL’s request, these agencies have not produced a single responsive document since the requests were submitted more than two years ago. AFL is now suing to enforce this request and expose the Biden Administration’s plan to prioritize organ transplants based on race and ethnicity instead of clinical need.

This lawsuit is part of AFL’s broader campaign to dismantle the Biden Administration’s DEI infrastructure and restore Merit-Based Medicine to America’s healthcare system.