The NFL is facing a subpoena from Republican Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier as his office investigates potential civils rights violations related to the Rooney Rule and other league practices aimed at promoting diversity.
The subpoena asks the NFL to produce documents on ‘all diversity reports, coaching census data, or demographic surveys that reflect the race and sex of coaching staffs of the teams from 2017 to the present.’
‘All in all, the Rooney Rule and the NFL’s related ‘inclusive hiring’ policies — and the NFL’s representations about these policies — continue to raise significant concerns under Florida law,’ Uthmeier wrote in his latest open letter to the league.
Uthmeier is currently running for a full four-year term is Florida AG. He has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has called him an ‘America First Warrior,’ as Uthmeier contiues to crack down on diversity initiatives in the state.
In March, Uthmeier wrote a letter the NFL to share ‘a word of caution’ about its ‘its race-and-sex-based hiring policies,’ which he described as ‘blatant race and sex discrimination.’
Uthmeier specifically threatened legal actions against the league if it didn’t shelf the 23-year-old policy.
The NFL is facing a subpoena from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (pictured) as his office investigates potential civils rights violations related to the Rooney Rule
The Rooney Rule requires teams to interview no fewer than two outside minority candidates for head coach, general manager and coordinator positions. Furthermore, at least one minority candidate is required to be interviewed for the quarterbacks coach position, which is seen as a stepping stone to higher-level coaching jobs in the league.
‘These methods of directing the selection and training of certain executives, coaches, and other employees based on skin color and sex is discriminatory and violates Florida law,’ Uthmeier wrote in March.
The NFL responded to that letter by softening the Rooney Rule language on the league website, which Uthmeier commended before broadening the scope of his inquiry.
‘We appreciate how quickly the NFL changed its website in response to our letter and capitulated on some of their discriminatory hiring quotas,’ Uthmeier said on social media Wednesday. ‘But their response raises more questions about the Rooney Rule, and we look forward to their cooperation with the investigative subpoena we issued them today.’
Uthmeier’s subpoena was sent along with a letter to NFL executive vice president and attorney Ted Ullyot on Wednesday.
A league representative is now required to appear at the attorney general’s office in Tallahassee, on June 12 to share any documents related to the inquiry.
‘All in all, the Rooney Rule and the NFL’s related ‘inclusive hiring’ policies — and the NFL’s representations about these policies — continue to raise significant concerns under Florida law,’ Uthmeier wrote.
Goodell said of the Rooney Rule in March that it has ‘been around a long time’ and has changed
The NFL did not comment on Uthmeier’s letter on Wednesday, but commissioner Roger Goodell did discuss the Rooney Rule with reporters at the league meetings in Phoenix back in Marhc.
‘The Rooney Rule has been around a long time,’ Goodell told reporters. ‘We’ve evolved it, changed it. We’ll continue to do that.’
The league also sent a response to Uthmeier on May 1.
‘The NFL’s pursuit of top-tier talent led to the adoption of the Rooney Rule in 2003,’ read the letter, obtained by The Associated Press. ‘Importantly, the Rooney Rule does not impose any hiring quotas or mandates, and it does not license clubs to consider race or sex in making hiring decisions.
‘Hiring decisions for NFL teams are made by the individual clubs — not the League — and those decisions are based on merit. The Rooney Rule neither requires, nor permits, any team to make a hiring decision on the basis of race, sex, or any other protected characteristic. To do so would be an express violation of League policy.’
Uthmeier’s subpoena moves the focus from the Rooney Rule to the NFL’s other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, such as a mandate for teams to hire at least one minority assistant coach.
The racial makeup of NFL head coaches has long been a sore subject for the league. Currently only three teams have African-American head coaches, despite more than half of NFL players being black.
