The allegations come amid a swift restructuring of the agency under President Donald Trump.From a ground view, the exterior of U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) is seen on Sept. 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Conservative groups filed a charge with the agency alleging that an American Bar Association program violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Dive Brief:
- A collection of conservative advocacy groups filed a charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday alleging that the American Bar Association’s diversity clerkship programs violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
- Specifically, the groups alleged that the programs “qualified and disqualified law students” for paid clerkships on the basis of race, color, national origin or sex. The groups said they initially sent a Title VII notice letter to ABA and filed complaints with the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, to which ABA allegedly responded by altering some descriptions of its programs on its website.
- The groups behind the charge filing include the American Civil Rights Project, the Center for Equal Opportunity and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. ABA declined to comment.
Dive Insight:
President Donald Trump swiftly reshaped EEOC during his administration’s first weeks, including appointing Acting Chair Andrea Lucas and dismissing two Democratic commissioners before their terms had expired. The change to Republican leadership represents an ideological shift for the agency, one that could apply to charges such as the one filed against ABA Monday.
Under the Biden administration, EEOC set its strategic enforcement plan around combating systemic racism and protecting “vulnerable workers” — a group broadened in 2023 to include LGBTQ+ workers — among other items. In a statement posted to EEOC’s website last month, Lucas said she voted against approving the enforcement plan and specifically criticized the EEOC’s inclusion of specific examples of gender identity discrimination in its anti-harassment guidance. Lucas also said she intended to rescind this guidance but could not do so without a quorum present at the agency.
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