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.
On its website, ABA’s Business Law Section said that its diversity clerkship program seeks to encourage diversity by “fostering a welcoming environment for all lawyers and promoting full and equal participation by all lawyers, including lawyers of color, women lawyers, gay and lesbian lawyers, and lawyers with disabilities.”
Applicants are considered diverse for the purposes of the program if they fall under at least one of the following categories, according to ABA:
- Women.
- Law students of color.
- Law students with disabilities.
- LGBTQ+ law students.
- Students who have overcome social or economic disadvantages such as a physical disability, financial constraints or cultural impediments to becoming a law student.
According to the charge filing, ABA’s clerkship program and other, similar ABA programs demonstrate ABA’s “intention to engage in, in admission to, preference, limitation, specification, or discrimination in such employment, employment placement, and job-training opportunities [...] based on race, color, sex, and national origin.”
“The plainest of black letter law forbids the ABA from deciding whom to employ based on race and sex, from deciding whom to train based on race and sex, from deciding whom to place into employment or training programs based on race and sex, or from advertising that it will do so,” Dan Morenoff, executive director at the American Civil Rights Project, said in an email to HR Dive. “It’s hard to imagine a clearer case of illegal behavior or an organization that should more clearly know better.”
