In November, NWLC, along with the Bazelon Center for Mental Health, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the Legal Defense Fund, led a letter, signed by nine civil rights organizations, to urge the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to withdraw three Direct Final Rules (DFRs) it issued on May 16, 2025. These DFRs would rescind longstanding civil rights regulatory protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and other laws enforced by DOE that protect against disability, race, and sex discrimination. DFRs are only supposed to be used to expedite “noncontroversial” changes–which these clearly aren’t. These DFRs are scheduled to become final on December 9, and our letter urges DOE once more to desist in its plan to finalize these changes, as they not only eliminate major civil rights protections, but present serious procedural violations of the rulemaking process.
Read our letter here.