A federal district court judge in Missouri last Thursday granted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) request to dismiss a subpoena enforcement action it filed against Nike Inc.

The EEOC said Nike had complied with its requests for more information and documentation in connection with its probe of the sportswear giant’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.

U.S. District Court Judge Cristian Stevens in St. Louis granted the EEOC’s request. The dismissal is specific to the request for enforcement of the subpoena that was filed by the EEOC on Feb. 4. Granting the dismissal because Nike has complied with the documentation sought just means that there is nothing more for the federal court to resolve. That does not mean that the EEOC’s probe is over. The EEOC has not provided any further details on the matter. And Nike has declined comment, according to a spokesperson.

The initial request was connected to an EEOC probe regarding “systemic allegations” involving DEI-related intentional race discrimination against White employees and job applicants.

At the time, a Nike spokesperson said: “This feels like a surprising and unusual escalation. We have had extensive, good-faith participation in an EEOC inquiry into our personnel practices, programs, and decisions and have had ongoing efforts to provide information and engage constructively with the agency.” The spokesperson also told Footwear News is a statement that it had shared “thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s inquiry” and that the company was in the “process of providing additional information.”

The EEOC probe began on May 24, 2024 over possible violations of Title VII, and the charge filed by then EEOC Commissioner (now Chair) Andrea R. Lucas also alleged that Nike had “race-based workforce representation quotas.”

The New York Times reported that Nike already had signed a settlement agreement with the EEOC in the final weeks of the Biden administration before that got withdrawn after U.S. President Donald Trump took office in January 2025. Trump has since started the process of dismantling the federal government’s DEI programs in favor of a merit-based focus.