The lawsuit was originally filed on Dec. 30, 2015, in Washington, D.C., federal court during the Obama administration. The complaint argues the FAA denied jobs to upward of 1,000 qualified applicants to meet diversity hiring targets, a policy critics suggest played a role in the staffing crisis in air traffic control.

This long-standing challenge against the FAA gained heightened attention online following Wednesday’s catastrophic collision between an American Airlines passenger plane and a Black Hawk helicopter, which resulted in 67 fatalities—the deadliest aviation disaster in the U.S. in nearly 25 years.

Andrew Brigida, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit represented by Mountain State Legal Foundation, or MSLF, contends that the FAA’s focus on diversity initiatives compromised safety by sidelining highly qualified candidates.

Brigida, who now works at the FAA as a program manager, told The Telegraph he hoped Trump would “immediately” work to fix the apparent staffing crisis.

“He obviously sees the issue at hand, and if he didn’t, I’m sure people that work in the Department of Transportation and the FAA informed him that there is an issue with staffing and air traffic control, and I’m hoping they can work on it immediately,” Brigida said.

The lawsuit alleges that under former President Barack Obama, the FAA replaced a skill-based hiring system with a “biographical assessment” aimed at increasing minority representation. Brigida, who says he scored 100% on his air traffic controller training exam, claims he was denied employment due to his race.

In early 2022, Brigida achieved a major victory before U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who approved the class action certification of Brigida, Matthew Douglas-Cook, and other aspiring air traffic controllers who scored well but were unable to proceed due to what MSLF calls the FAA’s “effort to skew the hiring process along racial lines.”

In response to the mid-air collision over the Potomac River, MSLF general counsel William Trachman said on Thursday that safety must remain a “foremost priority” for the FAA, adding “only the most capable individuals should be entrusted with such a critical role.”

Criticism of the FAA’s hiring policies has intensified as preliminary reports confirm that the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was understaffed at the time of the collision. The FAA acknowledged that the controller on duty was performing the roles of two people, managing both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft—tasks typically divided between multiple personnel.

During a White House press conference on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance addressed the Brigida lawsuit directly.

“If you go back to just some of the headlines over the past ten years, you have many hundreds of people suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but they were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump’s leadership because safety is the first priority of our industry,” Vance said.

Vice President JD Vance discusses our Brigida class action lawsuit against the FAA as he gives a statement to the media regarding the tragic airline crash in Washington D.C. yesterday. MSLF has been fighting for over decade for hundreds of would be air traffic controllers who… pic.twitter.com/bt1t8osLhE

— Mountain States Legal Foundation (@MSLF) January 30, 2025

The vice president’s comments came just hours before recently confirmed DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said he would soon announce major reforms for the FAA.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the FAA to inquire whether the agency is planning any sort of settlement in the ongoing litigation.

President Donald Trump notably criticized his presidential predecessors during the conference as well, including Obama and former President Joe Biden, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

President Trump on NTSB investigation and safety: “I put safety first. Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first…my administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety.” pic.twitter.com/F557NDQ4iM

— CSPAN (@cspan) January 30, 2025

“I put safety first. Obama, Biden, and the Democrats put policy first. And they put politics at a level that nobody’s ever seen because this was the lowest level,” Trump told reporters, adding “Their policy was horrible, and their politics was even worse.”

Trump also claimed Buttigieg ran the Department of Transportation “right into the ground with his diversity” initiatives.

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.
President Trump now oversees the military and the…

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 30, 2025

In response, Buttigieg posted to X that Trump’s analysis of the situation was dishonest and “despicable.”

“As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch,” Buttigieg said.

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The Brigida case, which could go to trial as early as next year, is part of broader criticism directed at federal agencies that the Trump administration argues have prioritized diversity over merit and expertise.

The Washington Examiner contacted legal representatives for Brigida but did not immediately receive a response.