The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently rescinded its affirmative action guidelines that had been in place for 40 years. According to the EEOC, the guidelines, as contained in a guide and compliance manual, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The EEOC also pointed to the guidelines as violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Harvard. In that case, the court found that college admissions practices that took race into account were unconstitutional. In the aftermath of that decision, some forecast that it would also impact affirmative action programs and policies in the workplace. That prediction has increasingly come to pass as the EEOC has embraced strategic priorities to mirror the conservative agenda of the Trump administration.
