Democratic lawmakers say EEOC chair aided law firm 'shakedown' by Trump

By David Thomas

July 9 (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday asked the acting chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for information about the agency's role in President Donald Trump's pressure campaign against a swath of the U.S. legal industry.

The lawmakers, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Bobby Scott of Virginia, in a letter to EEOC acting chair Andrea Lucas accused her of using her position "to facilitate a shakedown of prominent law firms that represented causes or employed individuals whom the President dislikes."

Lucas in March warned 20 major law firms that their employment policies meant to boost diversity, equity and inclusion may be illegal. She sought detailed information from the firms including the names, sex and race of their attorney hires and applicants since 2019.

Six of the firms later reached deals with Trump to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in free legal services his administration supports. The EEOC dropped its inquiries into those firms as part of the agreements.

The lawmakers alleged that Lucas violated EEOC rules and federal law by sending and publicizing her letters to the law firms "with great fanfare" at Trump's bidding. The agency is required to keep charges of discrimination confidential "until there is actual evidence of wrongdoing," the lawmakers said.

The lawmakers requested all related EEOC records, including correspondence between Lucas, the agency and the Trump White House, by July 25.

An EEOC spokesperson said the agency is reviewing the letter and is "committed to working with Congress to ensure the vigorous enforcement of the federal laws that protect equal employment opportunity in America’s workplaces."

A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Lucas' requests for the firms' data came days after Trump began issuing executive orders targeting certain firms over cases they handled, lawyers they hired and their DEI policies. The orders, which judges have since blocked, suspended security clearances for the firms' lawyers and restricted their access to government officials, buildings and federal contracting work.

To avoid such orders, nine firms in all have pledged a total of $940 million in pro bono legal work to the Trump administration.

Blumenthal, the ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Raskin, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent letters in April to the nine firms, asking them for more information about the agreements, including whether they had added or dropped clients as a result.

Many of the law firms, in response to Blumenthal and Raskin's requests or in internal memos obtained by Reuters, have defended the deals as necessary to protect their business from Trump's orders or from the EEOC's probe of their hiring practices.