The Trump administration withdrew its pick of Carter Crow, a Norton Rose Fulbright partner, to serve as the EEOC’s top attorney.
The White House’s announcement, sent to the Senate on Monday, comes about five months after the Texas-based lawyer was tapped for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission general counsel.
The civil rights enforcement agency has operated without a permanent general counsel since President Donald Trump fired Karla Gilbride, a Biden appointee, in the first month of his second administration.
Crow, the global head of employment and labor at Norton Rose where he defends employers in litigation, told Bloomberg Law he decided to withdraw from consideration for personal reasons.
“It was an honor to be nominated for the position,” he said in an email.
An EEOC spokesperson said Tuesday that “we wish Mr. Crow well and all the best in his future endeavors.”
The agency’s general counsel would oversee litigation as the agency shifts its enforcement priorities under Republican Chair Andrea Lucas, who seeks to scrutinize diversity programs the commission deems illegal and ramp up enforcement of religious discrimination.
Catherine Eschbach currently serves as the EEOC’s acting general counsel. She previously led the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs as the Trump administration sought to dismantle the agency last year.
The White House on Monday also announced the withdrawal of Daniel Bonham, a Republican former Oregon state senator, to be assistant secretary of labor for congressional and intergovernmental affairs.
(Adds comment from Crow and the EEOC beginning in paragraph four. The story originally published April 27.)
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