News & Analysis as of

Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College Civil Rights Act Title VII

Offit Kurman

New DOJ Memo Addresses Legality of DEI Programs for Federal Funding Recipients

Offit Kurman on

On July 30, 2025, the Department of Justice released a memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi offering guidance to federal agencies and recipients of federal funding regarding practices that the administration views as...more

Smith Anderson

SCOTUS Rejects Extra Burden for Majority-Group Plaintiffs in Title VII Cases

Smith Anderson on

On June 5, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, significantly impacting how majority-group discrimination claims are evaluated under Title VII of the...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

Water Cooler Talk: ‘Late Night’ Shows DEI Is More Than Optics

Troutman Pepper Locke on

The 2019 film “Late Night,” written by and starring Mindy Kaling, tells the story of a late-night talk show host, Katherine Newbury, played by Emma Thompson, whose all-male, all-white writing staff scrambles to add a female...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

U.S. Supreme Court Reverses ‘Reverse’ Employment Discrimination Pleading Standard

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

On June 5, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the “background circumstances” rule in “reverse” employment discrimination claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in a unanimous decision overturning...more

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Affinity Groups Potentially Unlawful, According to Recent EEOC and DOJ Guidance

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on protected characteristics, including race and sex. However, Title VII does not define Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“DEI”) in the...more

Baker Donelson

Unpacking the U.S. Attorney General's "Ending Illegal DEI and DEIA Discrimination Preferences" Memo

Baker Donelson on

The U.S. Attorney General's Office issued a Memorandum, on February 5, 2025, to the employees of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) directing the DOJ Civil Rights Division to "investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal...more

Cozen O'Connor

Costco Urged by Republican AGs to Repeal DEI Policies

Cozen O'Connor on

A group of 19 Republican AGs announced that they have sent a letter to Costco Wholesale Corporation, warning that its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies may violate state and federal civil rights laws prohibiting...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

New Administration Outlook: What Employers Need To Know About This Week's DEI Executive Orders

On January 20, the White House released an Executive Order Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing. This order rescinded the Biden-era pro-DEI orders, including the mandate for federal agencies to...more

McGlinchey Stafford

Will DEI Programs Become Extinct Under the Trump Administration?

McGlinchey Stafford on

In an effort to embrace diversity and inclusion, many employers established Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. The look of these programs varied from company to company; however, many of the programs...more

Proskauer - Law and the Workplace

President Trump Issues Sweeping Executive Orders Aimed at DEI

In his inaugural address on Monday, January 20, 2025, President Trump declared, “We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based.” In the days that followed, President Trump has proceeded to issue a series of...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

State Attorneys General Clash Over the Legality of DEI Initiatives

Husch Blackwell LLP on

From Congress’ recently proposed “Dismantle DEI Act of 2024” to the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s decision permitting mandatory diversity training by employers, diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”) programs...more

Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP

The man who said "no" to DEI training, and four lessons for employers

Employer's DEI mandate scores a win. A white guy refused to take his employer's mandatory "unconscious bias" training, and he was fired. He sued the employer for retaliation, his lawsuit was dismissed, and this week an...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

EEOC VC Samuels’ Keynote at Workplace Horizons Addresses PWFA, AI, Muldrow & More

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Jocelyn Samuels was designated by President Joe Biden as Vice Chair of EEOC on January 20, 2021. She joined the EEOC as a Commissioner on October 14, 2020, and on July 14, 2021, was confirmed for a second term ending in 2026....more

WilmerHale

Corporate DEI Landscape - One Year After SFFA

WilmerHale on

In the year since the Supreme Court’s highly anticipated decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (SFFA), effectively eliminating race-conscious...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: When Employers’ Good Intentions Inadvertently Create Increased Risk

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Employment lawsuits typically involve allegations of an employer’s wrongdoing – claims that the employer or its agents intended to and did mistreat, discriminate, or retaliate against employees. However, these “bad actor”...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

Highlights from the 2024 Hot Topics in Employment Law Seminar

Miles & Stockbridge’s Labor, Employment, Benefits & Immigration Practice Group presented its 22nd annual Hot Topics in Employment Law seminar April 11 to clients from throughout Maryland and beyond....more

Husch Blackwell LLP

10th Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms that Mandatory Diversity Training does not Constitute Unlawful Discrimination

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, there has been in increase in litigation challenging employers’ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies and practices. In one recent...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Broadway Ruling Puts Discrimination Claims In The Limelight

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Does the First Amendment right to free speech permit an employer to hire or fire an employee based on race? On its face, the proposition may seem absurd, especially as we approach the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DEI Under Scrutiny, Part VIII: Eleventh Circuit Strikes Down Florida Ban On Workplace DEI Training Under First Amendment

On March 4, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down a part of a politically charged Florida law known as the “Stop WOKE Act” that sought to restrict workplace training on certain diversity,...more

Hicks Johnson

Supreme Court Considers Title VII Case That Could Impact Company Diversity Initiatives

Hicks Johnson on

On December 6, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, a Title VII case out of the Eighth Circuit. The petitioner, Sergeant Jatonya Muldrow of the St. Louis Police Department, alleged sex...more

Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,...

DEI Under Scrutiny, Part VII: Re-examining the Implementation of ‘Rooney Rule’ Diverse Slate Initiatives

The National Football League’s (NFL) “Rooney Rule,” which requires teams to consider minority candidates when filling certain coaching vacancies, has been considered a model for diverse slate hiring policies, but it is now in...more

Rumberger | Kirk

Should Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies Vanish After Landmark Supreme Court Ruling?

Rumberger | Kirk on

Last June, the United States Supreme Court held in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard Coll that affirmative action policies at universities violate the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause...more

Mitratech Holdings, Inc

Out With the Old Compliance Year … In With the New

As 2023 ends, despite the visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, it is a good time to take stock of government initiatives affecting your Affirmative Action practice, the better to get ready for 2024. Many things...more

McCarter & English, LLP

Developing Effective and Legally Compliant DEI Policies

Corporate policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are being subjected to increased scrutiny and legal challenges even as the US workforce becomes more diverse on nearly every measure—race, sex, gender identity,...more

Jenner & Block

DEI in the Crosshairs: Reflections On 2023 And Predictions For 2024

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From the classroom to the boardroom, attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) gained significant momentum in 2023. Bolstered by their victory at the Supreme Court in the Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) cases,...more

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