Last week, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, wrote letters to the leaders of 51 large law firms, threatening investigations and litigation if the firms continued advising clients on DEI programs and maintaining programs of their own.

Invoking the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action, Cotton also sought to remind the law firms of the existence of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, noting that private employers cannot make hiring decisions based on race. “Congress will increasingly use its oversight powers—and private individuals will increasingly use the courts—to scrutinize the proliferation of race-based employment practices,” the letters stated.