# 473.143 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANS. *Section of the Minnesota Statutes titled "Affirmative Action Plans"* **Minn. Stat. § 473.143**, headed *Affirmative Action Plans*, is a section of the Minnesota Statutes.[^1] The sources assembled for this article contain only the section's heading. They do not include its text, its session-law history, or the legislatures and governors that enacted, amended or kept it. The record here therefore does not establish what the section requires, who enacted it, or how it has been applied.[^1] The section's subject, [[Affirmative action]] planning by public bodies in [[Minnesota]], is also the subject of a federal lawsuit against the State. On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] sued Minnesota under [[Title VII]] of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]].[^2] The Department's release on the filing, No. 26-21, calls the State's apparatus "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime."[^2] The complaint is reported as citing a different statute, [[Minn. Stat. § 43A.191]]. The record here does not show that it cites § 473.143.[^3] ## Federal action concerning Minnesota's affirmative-action hiring The complaint in *[[United States v. State of Minnesota (0:26-cv-00273)]]*, No. 0:26-cv-00273, was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota on January 14, 2026, under Title VII.[^3] It cites Minn. Stat. § 43A.191 eight times. One of those citations is to subdivision 3(c), which requires an agency to explain why it hired a candidate who is not an affirmative-action candidate.[^3] The record here gives the filing date and docket but no later rulings.[^3] The Department's Office of Public Affairs announced the filing the same day in release No. 26-21, titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*.[^2] According to the release, Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^2] The federal government has used the word "regime" for foreign governments it opposes. In the [[Iraq Liberation Act]] of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-338), Congress declared a policy of supporting efforts to remove "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein."[^4] The project's catalogue of U.S.-government "regime" usages (*[[How Minnesota Got Here]]*, note 40) finds Minnesota to be the only U.S. state so described. That is the project's own finding, not an independently established fact.[^4] The suit was filed after the Supreme Court decided *[[Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services]]*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025). In *Ames*, the Court held that Title VII's disparate-treatment provision "draws no distinctions between majority-group plaintiffs and minority-group plaintiffs."[^5] The Court also rejected the Sixth Circuit's heightened "background circumstances" requirement for majority-group plaintiffs.[^5] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *473.143 AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PLANS.* (retrieved October 26, 2026; CC BY-SA 4.0) — the section number and heading; the cached page carries no sections. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/473.143_AFFIRMATIVE_ACTION_PLANS.> [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (January 14, 2026) — the filing, the release's title, and Attorney General Bondi's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, *Complaint, United States v. State of Minnesota*, No. 0:26-cv-00273 (D. Minn. filed January 14, 2026) — the Title VII claim, the docket, and the eight citations of Minn. Stat. § 43A.191, including subd. 3(c). https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1423361/dl [^4]: United States Congress, *Iraq Liberation Act of 1998*, Pub. L. 105-338 (1998) — the stated policy of supporting efforts to remove "the regime headed by Saddam Hussein"; the "only U.S. state" observation is the project's catalogue finding (*How Minnesota Got Here*, note 40). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-105publ338/pdf/PLAW-105publ338.pdf [^5]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services*, 605 U.S. 303 (2025) — the holding on majority-group plaintiffs and the rejection of the "background circumstances" rule. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/23-1039_c0n2.pdf