Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has led a coalition of 15 states in demanding that members of the Business Roundtable end their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling outlawing affirmative action in college admissions.

“As Attorney General, I will ensure that corporate policies are focused on our state’s success and not ideological distractions," Bailey said in a statement. "The Business Roundtable has decided that racist DEI initiatives are more important than free market. I am fighting to protect working Americans and investors from these woke political trends and blatant racial discrimination.”

"We write to urge the Business Roundtable’s member CEOs to abandon the unlawful and misguided DEI initiatives that have for too long harmed businesses and consumers alike," the group wrote to the organization.

The Business Roundtable is a coalition of CEOs of leading American firms that seek "policy solutions that foster U.S. economic growth and competitiveness." They further pointed to the Supreme Court's recent decision in the Students for Fair Admissions case and quoted Milton Friedman as advocating for firms to prioritize stockholder benefits. The group of AGs then pointed to their own past legal actions, suggesting they intended to do the same should the Business Roundtable fail to comply with its demands.

"As corporate CEOs, pressured by far-left political activists, abandoned their fiduciary responsibilities in exchange for social cachet, state attorneys general stepped up to defend the legal rights of millions of their citizens," they wrote. "These efforts have included launching investigations of major corporations under state consumer protection laws."

The AGs concluded by urging the Roundtable to "rededicate itself to merit-based hiring, which supports the actual purpose of a corporation and complies with employment laws."

The letter drew praise from watchdog groups. Consumers' Research Executive Director Will Hild, for instance, asserted that "the Business Roundtable has blatantly spearheaded this scheme, but consumers have finally caught on."

"Consumers’ Research applauds the Attorneys General in their efforts to demand that Business Roundtable CEOs abandon their unlawful DEI activism," he added. "It is time to stop bowing to woke activists and get back to maximizing shareholder value. Consumers' Research will continue to support elected officials who push back against these woke ideologies."