Women Deserve Better than Eric Dreiband at the Civil Rights Division
A reminder for Women’s Equality Day: Dreiband has a history of opposing equal pay.

A decade ago, in a case called Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, five justices on the U.S. Supreme Court decided to severely limit the ability of workers to sue their employers for pay discrimination. The decision redefined a longstanding legal understanding of workers’ rights to combat pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The bipartisan legislation that overturned that decision in 2009 — named for the case’s plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter — was the first bill signed into law by President Barack Obama and was an important victory for Ledbetter, for equal pay advocates, and for women across the country. The Leadership Conference supported that legislation and rallied with Ledbetter, lawmakers, and other organizations in support of equal pay leading up to its passage.
One person who wasn’t rallying in support of a legislative fix to Ledbetter was Eric Dreiband, now President Trump’s nominee to lead the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In a statement before the Senate HELP Committee in January 2008, Dreiband — in his personal capacity — testified against bipartisan legislation that would have reversed Ledbetter, stating he did “not believe that the bill would advance the public interest.” In his sworn testimony, Dreiband expressed his opposition to meaningful access to the courts for women who were paid less than men for the same job.
Dreiband also made arguments to limit the ability of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to bring class action lawsuits in the 2015 case, EEOC v. Bloomberg. In that case, Dreiband defended Bloomberg, L.P. in a company-wide discrimination and retaliation class action case brought by the EEOC alleging that Bloomberg engaged in a pattern or practice of pregnancy discrimination by reducing the pay of pregnant women and women who took maternity leave.
Dreiband’s advocacy defending corporations that discriminate against their workers and his personal testimony about limiting workers’ access to justice when they have been discriminated against have earned him the attention and support of the president. Trump wants him to lead the Civil Rights Division, which is the lead prosecutor of our nation’s civil rights laws and the conscience of the federal government. Equal pay for women is and always has been a civil rights issue and is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — which states that “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.”
Forty-six years after Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day, there are steps Congress can take to improve the lives of women and girls in the United States — particularly when it comes to equal pay. Lawmakers in April reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would update and strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Congress should take up and pass that legislation sooner rather than later to help narrow the gender wage gap.
But confirming Eric Dreiband — with his history of opposing bipartisan equal pay legislation — is not a step that senators should take when Congress returns to Washington, D.C. in September. More than seven months into an administration that has demonstrated an open hostility to civil and human rights, the American people deserve a Civil Rights Division that will serve as a bulwark against that troubling trend. The Leadership Conference and our partners will continue to oppose Dreiband’s nomination and the administration’s ongoing civil rights rollbacks.
