A former Democratic commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) dropped a lawsuit on July 6, 2026, challenging her dismissal by President Donald Trump. The decision came after a recent Supreme Court ruling that significantly enhanced the president's authority to remove members of independent agencies.

President Trump had dismissed Jocelyn Samuels and another Democratic commissioner, Charlotte Burrows, before the completion of their five-year terms—a move unprecedented in the EEOC's history since its creation under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This action cleared the way for Trump's overhaul of civil rights enforcement, which includes efforts to curb diversity and inclusion initiatives, reduce protections for transgender workers, and support discrimination claims by white and U.S.-born workers.

Following these changes, the EEOC released a regulatory agenda proposing to end the annual collection of workplace demographic data and to rescind longstanding guidance that cautioned against requiring workers to speak exclusively English on the job. The agency argued that the 1980 guidelines on national origin-based discrimination were outdated and incorrectly presumed that English-only rules violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in some cases. The EEOC stated these requirements impose "significant financial and administrative burdens on the nation’s employers."

An EEOC spokesperson affirmed the agency's commitment to implementing President Trump's civil rights agenda with an emphasis on evenhanded enforcement of federal civil rights laws. The proposed regulatory changes are expected to be approved by the EEOC commission and will undergo a public commentary period before finalization.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the president's authority to fire heads of independent agencies—except for the Federal Reserve—overturning a 91-year-old precedent that had limited such removals.

Sources