Judge tosses lawsuit challenging civil rights agency’s pullback on transgender workplace protections

Chief U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III dismissed FreeState Justice’s lawsuit on Friday, blocking an effort to force the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to reverse course on transgender workplace protections.

The ruling leaves the EEOC’s current enforcement posture in place for now and narrows one of the legal paths available to opponents of the agency’s rollback.

Court ruling

Russell ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction to review the EEOC’s decision to change how it handles gender-identity discrimination complaints. He also found that FreeState Justice lacked standing to bring the case.

The lawsuit had argued that the agency’s rollback conflicted with federal law and with the Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which held that firing workers because they are gay or transgender violates Title VII.

The AP reported that the EEOC and the Justice Department did not comment on the ruling.

How the dispute developed

The case is part of a broader Trump administration rollback of transgender-related federal civil-rights enforcement.

After President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 20, 2025, directing the federal government to recognize only two sexes, the EEOC under Chair Andrea Lucas moved to drop or narrow support for some transgender-related enforcement actions.

By July 2025, the Washington Post reported that the EEOC had resumed processing some transgender discrimination complaints after an earlier pause, but with heightened review.

FreeState Justice, backed by Democracy Forward and the National Women’s Law Center, sued the agency over the policy shift.

What it means

For now, the ruling allows the EEOC to keep applying its current approach unless the agency changes course or a higher court intervenes.

Transgender workers and advocacy groups will be watching for any appeal, as well as any new EEOC or Justice Department statement about how gender-identity discrimination complaints will be handled.

The decision does not resolve the larger policy fight over transgender protections, but it does leave the agency’s discretionary enforcement posture intact while the broader legal battle continues.