Democrats launch investigation into EEOC's probes of major law firms

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

07/09/25 12:00 PM ET


A coalition of Democratic lawmakers demanded the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) turn over documents relating to its “sham investigation” of several major law firms’ hiring practices, arguing the EEOC violated confidentiality rules while conducting a pressure campaign.

The EEOC in March sent a letter to 20 firms asking questions about their diversity hiring practices, suggesting such programs could violate employment laws.

“Public reporting suggests—and information we have received as part of our ongoing investigation corroborates—that you used your position as Acting Chair of the EEOC to facilitate a shakedown of prominent law firms that represented causes or employed individuals whom the President dislikes,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) wrote in the letter to acting EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas.

“We request your prompt response to our requests for documents and information about your role in launching sham EEOC investigations, which the White House used to threaten and extort law firms into providing free legal services to the President’s allies. If you believe these allegations are incorrect, we welcome the opportunity to hear from you directly and promptly at a transcribed interview.”

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5392138-democrats-investigation-eeoc-law-firms/

---

Link to PRESS RELEASE - Ranking Members Raskin, Blumenthal, and Scott Expand Investigation into Trump Administration’s Law Firm Shakedown and Demand Answers from EEOC

Link to LETTER (PDF) - https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/2025-07-09-raskin-blumenthal-scott-to-lucas-eeoc%29-law-firms.pdf

[wiggs]

1. Does anyone doubt that TSF will bend the full powers of DOJ, FBI, DNS, and IRS toward his personal and

political opponents? And...his definition of 'opponent' is very very broad.

Maybe someday a MSM outlet will summarize all the ways in which abuse of power is occurring...with daily updates. Which should include current investigations of Brennan and Comey.

[FBaggins]

2. The EEOC has subpoena power - "A coalition of Democratic lawmakers" does not

We're going on six months of these "sternly worded letters"... have any of them resulted in a productive response from the administration?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The requests for info from a member of Congress through these letters

even if blown off, are saved for future action. It's an escalation process. They don't dissolve way. Should we manage to have an election in 2026 and retake the House, they will be used for further justifications for a subpoena.

But it seems people want them to sit there and do nothing and whine or pound the podium and stomp their feet, which accomplishes nothing.

[FBaggins]

4. Interesting last sentence there

Because "doing nothing but whine and pound the podium while stomping their feet" is exactly what happened here.

This doesn't lay the foundation for future subpoenas... if we take a chamber back next Fall, those subpoenas will fly whether these letters go out or not... just like the Republicans have been sending them out without waiting for a rejection of a polite letter.

The article you posted was the only point of the exercise. It's a press release intended to say "See? We're doing something!"

[BumRushDaShow]

5. So you skipped reading the request letter in the OP comments?

Of course you didn't.

Here is what is in it since clicking on it is difficult and takes a lot of effort-

(snip)

Accordingly, we request that you provide the following information as soon as possible,
but no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 25, 2025:

1. From January 20, 2025, to the present, all records, including calendar entries,
meeting transcripts, memoranda, messages, and other correspondence between the
Acting Chair, the Acting General Counsel, or other EEOC employees, and
representatives of the White House or the Executive Office of the President.

2. From January 20, 2025, to the present, all records, including calendar entries,
meeting transcripts, memoranda, messages, and other correspondence between the
Acting Chair, the Acting General Counsel, or other EEOC employees, and
representatives of attorneys’ general offices that signed the April 3, 2025, letter
regarding the EEOC’s March 17, 2025, letter.

3. From January 20, 2025, to the present, all records referring or relating to the
issuance of the March 17, 2025, letters to the law firms, including the law firms
Kirkland, Latham, Simpson Thacher, and A&O Shearman.

4. All drafted and executed settlement agreements related to the Acting Chair’s
issuance of the March 17, 2025, letters entered into or on behalf of the EEOC, the
Acting Chair, or the Acting General Counsel with Kirkland, Latham, Simpson
Thacher, or A&O Shearman.

5. From January 20, 2025, to the present, all records, including calendar entries,
meeting transcripts, memoranda, messages, and other correspondence between the
Acting Chair, the Acting General Counsel, or other EEOC employees, and
representatives of Kirkland, Latham, Simpson Thacher, or A&O Shearman.

(snip)

[FBaggins]

6. I read it... but you apparently didn't read what you replied to

Dozens of such requests (and attendant deadlines) have been made to the administration. I'm not aware of any that have resulted in the production of the requested documents.

We've had this conversation multiple times this year and many of those deadlines have passed. Feel free to find one where the "investigation" was provided with what they requested.

All they're going to get is a talking point for the next time they have five minutes to question someone before the committee from the relevant agency or department.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. To respond

Dozens of such requests (and attendant deadlines) have been made to the administration. I'm not aware of any that have resulted in the production of the requested documents.

During 45's first term, when he broke tradition and refused to turn over any of his tax returns and other financial records, before Democrats took over Congress, the same types of requests WERE made AND were ignored. When Democrats took over, they then used that as as jumping off point to escalate, including through subpoenas, to get that info -

Donald Trump's Tax Returns: Democrats Will Demand President's Records With House Majority

They finally worked through the Courts to get a response -

Trump's former accounting firm to turn over financial documents to House Democrats

We've had this conversation multiple times this year and many of those deadlines have passed. Feel free to find one where the "investigation" was provided with what they requested.

Because you fail to understand how Congress works. I have had to respond to Congressional inquiries over the course of my 30+ years in the federal government. In the "old" days, someone in HQ who got the request would make a copy and then FAX it to the various District offices and then additional copies were made locally for each Branch with a "buck slip" attached to pass around to all of the employees, so that we could review the request, and then go through our documents and look for anything responsive. If we had something, we would hand it to a supervisor and the District folks would consolidate the responses, would box them up, and then ship them down to our HQ office.

When we finally got computers and a LAN, those requests went out over "ALL EMPLOYEES" emails.

All they're going to get is a talking point for the next time they have five minutes to question someone before the committee from the relevant agency or department.

Again, why not stop trying to be the contrarian and learn something?