A California law requiring women to be placed on company boards has been struck down by a state judge, reported The Wall Street Journal May 16.
The 2018 law was ruled unconstitutional as it was said to violate the equal protection clause of the state constitution. The law stated that public companies with headquarters in the state had to have at least two or three women on their boards by 2021, depending on the size of the board, or risk facing penalties.
Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis of the Superior Court of California struck down the law after it was brought to the court by a conservative legal group Judicial Watch.
"The plaintiff’s evidence is compelling," she wrote in the verdict. She concluded that the law meant that candidates of similar proficiency were treated differently according to their gender, and thus had to prove the law was compelling to the public interest, which Ms. Duffy-Lewis ruled it didn't.