Chai R. Feldblum appointed to EEOC photo: US Senate Health Education Labout and Pensions

Chai R. Feldblum “lawyer, scholar and speaker on gay and lesbian rights, disability rights, and health and welfare issues” picked by Obama as one of five EEOC directors

The Washington Post reported September 14, 2009 that Chai R. Feldblum of Georgetown University Law Centre has been appointed by the President to the EEOC.

“Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, previously served as legislative counsel to the AIDS Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she played a role in the drafting of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

“She has also worked on advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights” and “been a leading expert on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act,” according to a biography released by the White House.

Chai R. Fedblum photo: Georgetown University

Her Georgetown University biography cites a long list of accomplishments in human rights law.

Chai Rachel Feldblum is a Professor of Law and Director of the Federal Legislation Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where she coined the phrase and teaches the role of the “legislative lawyer.”

Professor Feldblum graduated from Harvard Law School in 1985, clerked for Judge Frank M. Coffin on the First Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Harry A. Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court.

She served as the lead lawyer drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act from 1988-1990 and joined the Georgetown University Law Center faculty in 1991.

A leading lawyer, scholar and speaker on gay and lesbian rights, disability rights, and health and welfare issues, Professor Feldblum has been actively involved in federal civil rights and social welfare legislative issues since 1988.

Her efforts have included opposing or shaping legislative and regulatory initiatives on gay rights, AIDS, disability, and health care; serving as the lead drafter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and most recently, helping to develop employment policy changes to advance workplace flexibility.

Professor Feldblum’s latest articles are Rectifying the Tilt: Equality Lessons from Religion, Disability, Sexual Orientation and Transgender, published in the University of Maine Law review as the Tenth Annual Coffin Lecture, and The Art of Legislative Lawyering and the Six Circles of Legislative Advocacy. Georgetown University

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces US Federal law that aims to eliminate employment and civil rights discrimination. It has five commissioners who sit for five year terms.

It administers Federal Laws including: The Civil Rights Act 1964, Equal Pay Act 1963, Age Discrimination in Employment Act 1967, Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 & Amendments, Rehabilitation Act 1973, and the Civil Rights Act 1991. EEOC

The EEOC reports to the President or Executive and has follows the whim of the President to some extent. Obama has set an activist role for the EEOC. The EEOC has filed several suits recently which highlight Obama’s stated commitment to civil rights and disability rights.

Under President George W. Bush, the EEOC was allowed to drift. The page quoted above hasn’t been updated since 2004 which is telling.

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