Senate Confirms EEOC Acting Chair to Another Term on Commission

The Senate voted to confirm Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Acting Chair Andrea Lucas to a second five-year term, further entrenching the Trump administration’s agenda at the civil rights agency.

Though the EEOC still lacks a quorum after President Donald Trump fired two Democrats on the commission, the 52-45 party-line vote Thursday brings Lucas closer to implementing lasting changes at the agency. These include narrowing the application of a pregnancy bias law, reducing protections for transgender workers, and cracking down on workplace DEI policies and religious bias.

The EEOC needs a three-member quorum to file most lawsuits and make policy changes. Trump’s other EEOC nominee, Brittany Panuccio, was voted out of committee on July 24, and her confirmation would give the agency a quorum with a 2-1 Republican majority.

Even without a quorum, Lucas’s term as acting chair was marked by a flurry of activity to quickly implement Trump’s agenda. She’s withdrawn EEOC support from some transgender rights cases and questioned top law firms about their DEI policies as part of a push to facilitate deals with the White House.

The EEOC also played a role in the administration’s campaign against elite universities. Lucas unilaterally launched an investigation into Columbia University for antisemitism via a commissioner’s charge in 2024, and the school agreed to pay out a historic $21 million settlement with the agency as part of its broader deal with the administration on July 25.

Lucas’s commitment to the Trump agenda has come under scrutiny from Democrats, who’ve accused her of overstepping the agency’s power in facilitating the law firm deals and prioritizing loyalty to the president above the EEOC’s mission.

In a June Senate committee hearing , Lucas under questioning from Democratic members walked back her description of the EEOC as an independent agency from a 2021 social media post. She instead told senators that the EEOC is an executive branch agency answerable to the president.

Lucas has already telegraphed some of the changes she would push for once the agency reaches a quorum. She’s pledged to revisit the agency’s interpretation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act to exclude some medical conditions from being eligible for workplace accommodations.

Lucas also said the EEOC would rescind Biden-era guidance around workplace protections for transgender workers, taking a view that the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County didn’t protect against misgendering or limited bathroom access. A Texas federal judge vacated that portion of the guidance in May.