Top Lawyer Vacancy at EEOC Raises Questions About Biden Plan (1)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has been without a Senate-confirmed top lawyer since early March, a vacancy that hinders the workplace civil rights agency’s ability to pursue cutting-edge legal strategies in a similar fashion to past general counsels, former agency officials said.

During the Obama era, for instance, the EEOC general counsel at the time, David Lopez, used litigation to test an unsettled matter of law, helping to bring about a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that vindicated the agency’s legal theory.

While not having a permanent, Senate-confirmed general counsel hasn’t stopped the EEOC from pursuing litigation, it means ...