In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate top law firms under the guise of civil rights enforcement—an effort widely seen as retaliation against firms perceived to oppose the administration.
Acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas sent letters to 20 law firms demanding detailed personal information about applicants and attorneys stretching back nearly a decade.
The data requests included names, race, sex, academic records, compensation, affiliation with diversity organizations, and more, raising alarm about unlawful government overreach and the weaponization of civil rights laws to intimidate future lawyers.
On April 15, 2025, a group of law students represented by Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit seeking to block the EEOC from forcing firms to turn over students’ sensitive information and asking the court to declare the agency’s actions unlawful.
The case alleges that the EEOC, under Lucas’s leadership, is acting without legal authority and violating statutory processes. It asks the court to order the agency to stop pursuing the data and to destroy any information already obtained. The suit also highlights the broader constitutional implications of the administration’s effort to chill participation in the legal system and suppress legal representation that runs counter to its political agenda.
This legal challenge builds on Democracy Forward’s broader work to defend the independence of the legal profession and resist the misuse of government agencies for political purposes.
This lawsuit follows another legal challenge brought by Democracy Forward: Samuels v. Trump. Filed April 9, 2025, this case challenges President Trump’s unlawful removal of EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels before the end of her term. The suit, filed in partnership with Katz Banks Kumin LLP, asserts that the president violated the law governing independent federal agencies and has left the EEOC without a quorum, hindering its ability to protect workers from discrimination.
The Trump administration has engaged in an assault on law firms and the judiciary as an increasing number of judges have ruled against their lawless behavior. Democracy Forward recently organized thousands of lawyers to send a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging her to reject political attacks on attorneys and law firms. The letter represented a broad coalition of legal professionals from conservatives to progressives, united in concern that recent attacks—many stemming from the Project 2025 playbook—are part of an effort to scare people from exercising their right to access the justice system.
Together, these actions expose the Trump administration’s broader attempt to politicize civil rights enforcement and weaken the institutions meant to protect equal opportunity under the law.