NEW YORK — A former Democratic commissioner of one of the nation’s leading civil rights enforcement agencies has abandoned her legal fight against President Trump over her removal from the position, pointing to a recent Supreme Court decision that significantly expanded presidential authority over independent federal agencies.
Trump’s removal of Jocelyn Samuels and a fellow Democrat from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened the door to a major restructuring of how civil rights are enforced in the workplace. The administration has since shifted the agency’s focus toward eliminating diversity and inclusion programs, rolling back protections for transgender employees, and pursuing discrimination claims on behalf of white workers and U.S.-born workers.
The EEOC took steps to advance that agenda on Monday by releasing a new regulatory plan that would end the agency’s longstanding annual collection of workplace demographic data and eliminate guidance warning employers that English-only workplace rules may constitute national origin discrimination, among other proposed changes.
Among Trump’s earliest moves as president was eliminating the Democratic majority on the typically five-member EEOC. His decision to remove Samuels and Charlotte Burrows before their five-year terms were completed was without precedent in the history of the agency, which Congress established through the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The commission currently has two Republican members and one Democrat, with two seats remaining unfilled. Trump has not yet put forward nominees for those vacancies.
In her original lawsuit, Samuels contended that Congress designed the commissioner positions — filled through presidential appointment and Senate confirmation — with staggered terms specifically to provide what she called “continuity, stability and insulation from political pressure.”
However, in a statement issued Monday, Samuels explained she was dropping the case because the Supreme Court’s decision in a separate matter “leaves me without a viable path forward to continue contesting my termination.”
The Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of Trump’s authority to remove the heads of independent agencies, with the Federal Reserve as the sole exception. In doing so, the court discarded a 91-year-old precedent that had restricted when a president could dismiss board members of such agencies.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas praised that ruling in a LinkedIn post last week, writing that it confirmed the “EEOC is an executive branch agency.”
In a statement tied to Monday’s regulatory announcement, an EEOC spokesperson said the agency is “committed to implementing President Trump’s landmark civil rights agenda, dedicated to evenhanded enforcement of federal civil rights laws.”
The EEOC’s only remaining Democratic commissioner, Kalpana Kotagal, voted against the new regulatory agenda, stating that “the proposed changes weaken civil rights protections for workers and undermine the agency’s investigative and enforcement efforts.”
Among the agenda items is a proposal to eliminate a four-decade-old requirement that companies with 100 or more employees — or federal contractors with at least 50 workers — submit workforce demographic information to the EEOC. Lucas has previously cautioned companies against using such data to support what she characterizes as potentially discriminatory diversity-building practices. The EEOC’s proposal argues that these reporting requirements place “significant financial and administrative burdens on the nation’s employers.” While the commission is widely expected to approve the rescission, it will still go through a public comment period before taking final effect.
Critics on the right have argued that collecting demographic data encourages the agency to assume discrimination is the cause of any gender or racial imbalance in a company’s workforce. Defenders of the practice say the annual surveys have helped the agency identify discriminatory patterns, set enforcement priorities, and monitor how women and minorities have progressed since the Civil Rights Act was enacted.
“The EEOC has collected this data from employers for six decades. It’s difficult to understand why the agency would kneecap its ability to investigate discrimination, particularly at a time when the EEOC is chronically understaffed and underfunded,” Kotagal said.
The agency also announced plans to rescind 1980 guidelines on national origin discrimination, which had warned that requiring workers to speak only English could “create an atmosphere of inferiority, isolation and intimidation based on national origin which could result in a discriminatory working environment.” The EEOC contends those guidelines are outdated and wrongly established a “presumption that English-only rules violate Title VII in some circumstances.”
Last week, the EEOC also voted to eliminate longstanding guidance on what kinds of voluntary affirmative action employers could take to improve job opportunities for women and minorities without violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars employment decisions based on race, color, national origin, sex, or religion. The agency reversed its previous position that certain programs — such as targeted training for women and minorities or expanded recruitment efforts — could be pursued without running afoul of that law.
Also included in the regulatory agenda is a proposal to revise rules implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which grants women the right to request workplace accommodations related to pregnancy and associated medical conditions. Lucas had previously opposed Biden-era regulations that included abortion as a qualifying circumstance for accommodations such as time off for medical appointments.
