NEW YORK (AP) — The Senate confirmed Andrea Lucas to another term as commissioner of the country's workplace civil rights agency, demonstrating firm Republican support for her efforts to root out diversity programs, roll back protections for transgender workers and prioritize religious rights in the workplace.
Democratic lawmakers and prominent civil rights groups fiercely opposed Lucas’ confirmation, saying she has subjected the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the whims of the president,
who elevated her to acting chair in January and, in an unprecedented act, fired two of the agency’s Democratic commissioners before their terms expired.
Lucas, who was first appointed to the EEOC in 2020, secured another five-year term with a 52-45 party-line Senate vote on Thursday night, but it will be up to President Donald Trump if she continues as chair.
Lucas has firmly aligned the EEOC with Trump's civil rights agenda, declaring during her confirmation hearing last month that she doesn't consider the agency to be independent, a position she acknowledged was a shift from her previously stated views.
In compliance with Trump's executive order declaring two unchangeable sexes, the EEOC dropped lawsuits on behalf of transgender workers and stalled progress on others. Lucas has also leveraged the EEOC's enforcement powers to help the Trump administration target private institutions over their DEI programs or allegations of antisemitism. Her confirmation came a week after the EEOC secured a $21 million settlement with Columbia University over allegations of harassment against Jewish employees, part of a broader agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal research money.
“I look forward to continuing the historic progress this agency has made since the start of the second Trump Administration under my leadership — from securing multiple settlements with some of the world’s largest law firms to disavow DEI and embrace merit-based hiring and other employment practices, to obtaining the largest EEOC settlement to date for victims of antisemitism on behalf of Jewish employees at Columbia University," Lucas said in a statement following her confirmation.
Democrats have assailed Lucas' leadership as part of the Trump administration’s wider attempts to increase his authority by politicizing agencies long considered to be independent.
“In just a few short months as Acting Chair, Andrea Lucas has warped the mission of the EEOC beyond recognition and weaponized the agency to green light discrimination, roll back protections for people who are sexually assaulted at work, and intimidate anyone who challenges President Trump," Sen. Patty Murray said in a statement.
Last week, legal and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against the EEOC claiming that is has unlawfully refused to enforce federal protections for transgender workers.
But Republican senators and some business groups and religious institutions have praised Lucas' leadership, especially her commitment to rolling back Biden-era guidance and regulations strengthening protections for transgender workers and women seeking abortions, birth control and fertility treatments.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Lucas' confirmation, saying in a statement that she “believes in finding balance in EEOC policies and decisions.”
The EEOC, which investigates employment discrimination in the private sector, was created by Congress under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The dismissals of the commissioners left the EEOC without the quorum needed to make some major decisions. That will change if the Senate confirms a second Trump nominee, Britanny Panuccio.
