Aug 3, 2026
On August 3, 2026, the American Bar Association House of Delegates adopted all four civil rights resolutions Attorney Jordan Howlette helped bring to the floor at the ABA Annual Meeting. Each is now official policy of the American Bar Association.
Resolution 505 urges Congress to amend the Federal Tort Claims Act so that the postal exception no longer shields the intentional, discriminatory withholding of a person's mail, closing the gap left by the Supreme Court's decision in United States Postal Service v. Konan.
Resolution 506 urges Congress to establish a single, uniform 300-day deadline for filing employment discrimination charges with the EEOC, ending a disparity that gives workers in five states only 180 days.
Resolution 507 urges Congress to remove interference with contract rights from the FTCA's list of excepted torts, so that a wrong committed by a federal employee is not left without any defendant at all.
Resolution 508 urges Congress and the EEOC to give federal employees the same time to bring a discrimination complaint that every other American worker already has.
Adopted policy is what allows the ABA to testify, file briefs, and press Congress for reform. Grateful to the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, the Torts Trial & Insurance Practice Section, the other co-sponsoring entities, the House of Delegate movants, and everyone who spoke in support of the resolutions.