Tom Cotton Threatens Top Biglaw Firms Over Their Diversity & Inclusion Initiatives
He's going after the biggest firms in the country to put an end to their DEI efforts.
(Photo by Zach Gibson – Pool/Getty Images)
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action within higher education, conservative legislators want to take it a step further and limit diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, too. After all, they find initiatives far too “progressive,” and they need to be done away with.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), a Harvard Law School graduate, has chosen to launch an assault against some of the largest law firms in the country, warning them that their DEI programming — and their advice to clients regarding such programming — may violate federal law. Earlier this week, Cotton sent these threat letters to more than 50 firms, many of them among the Am Law 100’s most elite.
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Biglaw firms ranging from Akin Gump, Baker McKenzie, and Cleary Gottlieb to Simpson Thacher, Sullivan & Crowell, and Weil Gotshal received the exact same letters (available on the next page), each containing the following language:
Federal law has long prohibited treating employees differently because of their race. Employers should take to heart the Supreme Court’s recent declaration that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” Congress will increasingly use its oversight powers—and private individuals and organizations will increasingly use the courts—to scrutinize the proliferationn of race-based employment practices. To the extent that your firm continues to advise clients regarding DEI programs or operate one of your own, both you and those clients should take care to preserve relevant documents in anticipation of investigations and litigation.
One of Cotton’s aides reached by Bloomberg Law had this to say about the letters: “Following the ruling against affirmative action, investigations into race-based DEI programs are inevitable. Senator Cotton sent the letter so that the firms which keep race-based programs will be prepared to answer to Congress.”
This is not the first time conservative legislators have sent vaguely threatening letters to Biglaw firms in the wake of a Supreme Court decision. Recall that in the wake of the Dobbs decision, Texas legislators threatened Sidley for reimbursing travel costs related to abortion care.
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Biglaw firms across the country will need a few good lawyers when it comes to the fight for diversity in the workplace. Fortunately, they’ve got a few thousand of those kicking around.
Big Law’s Diversity Efforts May Be Illegal, GOP Senator Warns [Bloomberg Law]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
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