Rescission of Guidelines on Affirmative Action Appropriate Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as Amended
Key claim: The EEOC is rescinding its 1979 Guidelines on Affirmative Action under Title VII, removing them from the Code of Federal Regulations on grounds that they are obsolete, inconsistent with statutory language, and not supported by decades of Supreme Court precedent.
Abstract
(Rule · Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC” or “Commission”) is rescinding its regulations regarding Affirmative Action Appropriate Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Guidelines”), and removing it from the Code of Federal Regulations. The Commission is rescinding the Guidelines and removing them from the Code of Federal Regulations because the Guidelines are inconsistent with the statutory language and were not supported by Supreme Court precedent when issued; they are obsolete; they only apply to affirmative action to benefit women or minorities; and they do not take into account multiple relevant Supreme Court cases and numerous developments in the lower courts, over the past four decades since their issuance in 1979.
Why this matters
Rescinding the 1979 EEOC Affirmative Action Guidelines removes the principal federal safe-harbor framework employers relied on when adopting voluntary race- or sex-conscious hiring and promotion measures under Title VII. Affected workers and employers now navigate affirmative action questions directly under statutory text and evolving Supreme Court precedent, without agency-issued criteria for permissible plans. The action fits a broader cross-agency pattern of narrowing civil rights regulations to intentional-discrimination models following SFFA v. Harvard and related rulings.