The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against the New York Times this week, claiming the news organization discriminated against a white male employee by denying him a promotion based on race and sex. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, marks the latest legal confrontation between the Trump administration and the Times.
The EEOC alleges the Times violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in its employment decisions. The federal agency cited the employee's qualifications and pointed to the Times' diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, along with a 2021 initiative to boost the representation of non-white and female leaders in its ranks.
"Federal law is clear: making hiring or promotion decisions motivated in whole or in part by race or sex violates federal law. There is no diversity exception to this rule," EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas said in a statement Tuesday.
The Times pushed back firmly. "The New York Times categorically rejects the politically motivated allegations brought by the Trump administration's EEOC," spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha said. "Our employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the best talent in the world. We will defend ourselves vigorously."
This represents the third lawsuit the Trump administration or the president himself has filed against the Times in less than five years. The track record on such suits has not been strong. Two cases brought by the administration have failed since 2023, and three total cases have been dropped or dismissed in that timeframe.
Trump's most prominent action against the outlet, a personal $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed last September, was refiled in October after a judge rejected the original complaint as unnecessarily lengthy. An earlier $100 million lawsuit over the Times' 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation of Trump's tax records was dismissed in 2021.
The EEOC case reflects a broader strategy by the Trump administration to weaponize DEI critiques against media companies. Last week, the Federal Communications Commission took the rare step of ordering an expedited review of ABC's local broadcast station licenses, citing concerns that the stations may have violated FCC rules against unlawful discrimination tied to ABC's diversity policies.
The Times separately sued the Defense Department last year over restrictions placed on journalists. A federal judge ruled in the outlet's favor in that dispute in March.
Author James Rodriguez: "This lawsuit highlights how the administration is using federal agencies to target newsrooms over their internal hiring practices, a strategy with a weak win rate but staying power as a political tool."
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