The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking to keep documents from its diversity investigations at major law firms under seal, according to Above the Law. The agency reportedly says the confidentiality request is meant to protect the firms involved in the probes.
The legal blog notes that the EEOC has already publicly accused those same firms of discriminatory hiring practices. Observers see a contradiction in shielding records that would presumably support the agency's claims while simultaneously arguing that disclosure would harm the firms.
Above the Law goes further, suggesting the documents might actually show the investigations were a "baseless shakedown." The commentary reflects skepticism about the agency's motives, though the underlying court filings were not independently reviewed for this article.