A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Congress violated the Constitution by passing a Biden-era internet access grant program that gave preferences to racial or ethnic minorities. 

The Digital Equity Act was part of President Biden’s 2021 budget climate law, and it sought to spend billions of dollars on broadband access. But by ordering that the money should go to those minority groups, it crossed a constitutional line, the Washington Times reported. 

The ruling was by Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush nominee to the court, who said that the 2023 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court striking down race-based preferences in college admissions, was the basis for his decision. He said the same logic applies to government grant programs. 

“Addressing that gap is a laudable goal, but the Supreme Court has admonished that ameliorating general societal inequalities — as opposed to specific instances of past discrimination — ’does not constitute a compelling interest that justifies race-based state action,’” Bates wrote.

The Competitive Grant Program was halted last year by the Trump administration, which argued that such preferences were unconstitutional.