Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—State attorneys general issue multistate guidance on antidiscrimination protections, (Sep 21, 2026)

By Jeff Williams and WK Editorial Staff

“[I]t is critical for all residents and entities in our states to understand the state of the law and know that our civil rights protections remain legal, enforceable, and effective to ensure fairness and equal opportunity for everyone.”

Stating that the Trump administration has “sought to narrow or even eliminate” federal civil rights laws and the protections afforded by state and federal constitutions “through executive actions and misinformation,” the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington have jointly issued guidance about anti-discrimination protections, including in housing and lending matters, siting and permitting, education, employment, language access, and disaster and emergency preparedness.

"Given current threats to our civil rights laws, it is critical for all residents and entities in our states to understand the state of the law and know that our civil rights protections remain legal, enforceable, and effective to ensure fairness and equal opportunity for everyone,” the attorneys general said in the document.

In a press release, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that the guidance is a "call to action for business and other institutions to embrace principles of fairness and equal opportunity for all” and a “reminder” for Californians about their rights and protections under the law.

“The Trump Administration wants you to believe that our longstanding civil rights protections are now illegal. Let me say clearly: They are not,” Bonta said.

The guidance details “promising policies and practices” that the attorneys general said the public and private sectors can implement to “proactively further the goals” of civil rights laws. “By identifying and preventing unlawful discrimination on the front end, proactive measures can also eliminate the need for enforcement action,” the guidance said. “Thus, engaging in proactive measures can be the most efficient, cost-effective, and collaborative approach to identify gaps in access to opportunity, anticipate and prevent potential harms, and improve service delivery and systems that benefit everyone.”

Civil rights protections “ensure that everyone has a fair shot to thrive in our society, including in applying for a job, finding a place to live, securing a loan, participating in school, or accessing health care—and prohibit decision-makers from imposing unjustified and unfair barriers,” the guidance said.

In addition to noting that civil rights laws enable protections against intentional discrimination “when actors deliberately treat groups of people differently and deny opportunities based on who we are or where we come from,” the guidance said that they also protect against unjustified disparate impacts, when “actions appear neutral on their face, but unnecessarily and unfairly harm or exclude groups of people in practice, even when more inclusive or less harmful options are available.”

The state attorneys general said that the federal government is “working to undermine bedrock values by falsely labeling laws that protect civil rights 'illegal'—especially protections against disparate impact discrimination," adding: "These efforts misrepresent the law and make it harder to address discrimination.”

As “attacks by the federal government jeopardize the future” of civil rights protections, the guidance pointed, among other things, to instances when cases brought under a disparate impact theory of liability have succeeded in federal courts.

In addition, the attorneys general said, "Investigation and enforcement actions by state and federal agencies, as well as litigation and other actions by private parties, have historically served to deter and rectify violations of anti-discrimination laws.”

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