Brittany Panuccio confirmed to EEOC

On October 7, the Senate confirmed Brittany Panuccio to a term on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) until July 2029, giving Acting Chair Andrea Lucas a quorum after President Trump fired former Chair Charlotte Burrows and former Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels. During her confirmation hearing, Panuccio stated that she planned to uphold the president’s agenda if confirmed.

Panuccio had been serving as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Florida since 2021. During President Trump’s first term, she was a special counselor in the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), playing a key role in drafting Title IX regulations that heightened the protections for students accused of sexual misconduct.

What to expect now that EEOC has a quorum

Now that Panuccio has been confirmed, Acting Chair Lucas will have a quorum and can move to enact the Trump administration’s agenda.

While the EEOC could maintain its day-to-day operations—such as processing, investigating, conciliating, and mediating new discrimination charges; issuing right-to-sue letters; issuing subpoenas; filing noncontroversial cases; and litigating previously approved major cases—without a quorum, it could not bring or intervene in cases that allege systemic discrimination or pattern-and-practice discrimination, require substantial EEOC resources, seek to upend circuit precedent, pursue unsettled lawsuits, or are likely to generate controversy. Neither can the commission issue or amend guidance, policy, and regulations. In fact, the lack of a quorum has been used by some litigants to challenge the agency’s litigation against them.