A court is allowing a constitutional lawsuit to go ahead against the Arizona Association of Realtors (AAR) by a realtor whom the AAR disciplined for posting conservative memes on social media. This is the first time in the state’s history that a constitutional claim has been allowed against a private organization, according to Ryan Heath, realtor Chad DeVries’ attorney.
Heath wrote on his Substack, “Because the court has permitted his due process claims to proceed, DeVries has now successfully advanced a novel legal theory: that AAR’s control over access to the real estate profession makes it subject to constitutional due process requirements, even though it is a private entity.”
One of the memes DeVries posted on his personal anonymous Instagram account showed a pregnant woman and a doctor. The mother asked, “Is it a boy or a girl?” The doctor responded, “We’ll let the kindergarten teacher decide.”
AAR said he violated an anti-discrimination rule. Article 10 of Standard of Practice 10-5 and Professional Standards Policy 29 prohibit realtors from discriminating “in their real estate employment practices … on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
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