Democrats Prepare for a ‘Holy War’ as Trump Dismantles DEI Policies

Last week, after President Donald Trump dismissed two Democratic commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Charlotte A. Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, along with EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride, The New York Times was quick to label it a “late night purge.”

Democrats are poised to initiate a legal battle to reverse Trump’s actions — viewing it as a direct assault on his mission to end affirmative action.

These firings were preceded by Trump’s executive orders that scrapped federal diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates, along with measures prohibiting federal agencies from implementing racial, ethnic, or gender quotas.

For over 50 years, the EEOC has been unfairly imposing quotas on American businesses, educational institutions, and other organizations.

The agency coerces compliance through aggressive lawsuits, endless investigations, and public shaming, branding businesses and other entities with allegations of racism or bias.

This has been an ongoing issue for decades: In 1994, then-chair Gilbert Casellas remarked, “I hope people worry when they get a call from the EEOC,” similar to how they fear a call from the IRS.

Many companies do show concern, and justifiably so: The EEOC fabricates new violations that are not articulated in federal law.

During the Biden administration, the EEOC focused on inventing new “protections” for LGBTQ+ employees, elevating transgender bathroom access to a critical civil rights issue.

Under its own standards, the EEOC broadened the definition of illegal sexual harassment to include “misgendering” a transgender individual.

Biden’s EEOC also ruled that women requesting time off or other accommodations for abortions should receive special consideration.

If Trump hadn’t intervened, Democrats would have held sway over the agency until at least 2026 — but his dismissal of two of the three Democratic commissioners has left the agency with only two, lacking a quorum and hindering its ability to undermine Trump’s policies.

Trump has appointed Andrea Lucas, who has been an EEOC commissioner since 2020, as the acting chair. Lucas stated her intention to prioritize “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination” and “protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination.”

“Biology is not bigotry,” she declared last week. “Biological sex is real, and it matters.”

The EEOC will now “protect the sex-based privacy and safety needs of women,” according to Lucas — reversing the significant damage done in that regard since the 1990s.

In the past, the agency took legal action against Women’s Workout World, a chain of women-only health clubs, claiming it breached civil rights law by not hiring men for shower and locker areas where women were undressed. This claim was dismissed by a federal judge.

Subsequently, the agency threatened to sue Lillie Rubin, an upscale women’s clothing store, for not employing men for sales positions that included assisting women in fitting rooms.

Previously, the EEOC sought to compel private companies to conform to its gender ideology.

In 1995, it sued Hooters restaurants, arguing that hiring only female servers violated the rights of prospective male waiters.

This unsuccessful lawsuit highlights how civil rights movements have shifted from allowing African Americans to dine at lunch counters to granting federal agents the authority to dictate the personal characteristics of those serving lunches.

The Trump administration aims to repeal extensive EEOC “guidance” — a term often used to mask the federal government’s coercive practices.

For instance, the EEOC issued “guidance” in 2013 that effectively criminalized the refusal to hire ex-convicts.

Due to the higher incarceration rates among racial minorities, the EEOC began legally pressuring and suing private employers, such as Sheetz Convenience Stores last year, who rely on criminal-background checks for hiring — even though the EEOC employs similar checks in its own recruitment process.

The EEOC posited that background checks result in a “disparate impact” on groups with high incarceration rates, thus constituting a violation of civil rights laws.

The agency has faced significant defeats in federal court over this issue. As far back as 1989, federal judge Jose Gonzalez Jr. called its stance “an insult to millions of honest Hispanics. Obviously, a rule refusing honest employment to convicted applicants will have a disparate impact upon thieves.”

Despite this ruling, the EEOC has disregarded it and continues imposing progressive values upon the nation.

Democrats argue that Trump lacks the authority to dismiss the commissioners because the EEOC is an independent entity not directly accountable to the president, but the legal framework remains ambiguous.

Trump is expected to swiftly nominate two new Republican commissioners who align with the administration’s core principles.

The ensuing conflict is likely to ascend to federal court, and it may take months or years before a resolution is reached.

However, the Trump administration’s rapid efforts to dismantle the EEOC’s harmful and oppressive guidelines represent a significant move towards reinstating this errant federal agency in accordance with the law.

James Bovard’s latest book is “Last Rights: The Death of American Liberty.”