On Friday, the Senate voted to advance Republican nominee Brittany Bull Panuccio to fill one of three open EEOC Commissioner seats with a term ending in 2029.  The EEOC consists of five bipartisan Commissioners.  Her addition to the EEOC would give it the quorum it needs to vote on rulemaking, issue new policies, and rescind guidance documents.   The EEOC has not had a quorum of Commissioners since January 28, 2025, following the departures of two Commissioners.   

Since December 2024, the EEOC has been operating under a limited delegation of authority to the EEOC's director of the Office of Federal Operations.  This allowed certain matters that otherwise would require a majority vote of the Commission to be temporarily handled by the director, such as contracting approval, decisions on petitions to revoke or modify enforcement subpoenas, and ministerial changes to regulations compelled by statute.  Even though the EEOC lacked a quorum, its General Counsel still had the power to file lawsuits after providing five days’ prior notice to Commissioners pursuant to a 2021 resolution.  

Panuccio is a seasoned labor and employment lawyer who has litigated cases involving a wide variety of laws, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. During the first Trump Administration, Panuccio served at the U.S. Department of Education in the Office for Civil Rights and the Office of the General Counsel where she advised senior department officials about legal and policy issues related to antidiscrimination laws and regulatory reform. She is also the co-author of the 2018 Title IX proposed regulations.  In her July 2025 opening statement to the Senate HELP Committee, she described the proposed regulations as “a consistent, transparent, and unbiased grievance process for resolving formal complaints of sexual harassment.”  She has expressed a specific interest in sex discrimination laws stemming from personal experience and said that, if confirmed as Commissioner, she will continue to passionately defend women’s rights.