Ahead of football’s most anticipated event this weekend, the NFL is under fire from a conservative legal nonprofit for its diversity hiring rule.
This week America First Legal (AFL), led by former Donald Trump advisor Stephen Miller, filed a federal civil rights complaint (pdf) against the National Football League (NFL), arguing its Rooney Rule violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Rooney Rule, which was adopted by the NFL in 2003, requires the league’s teams to interview at least two minority candidates when filling head coaching, general manager, and coordinator positions. Between 2012 and 2023, white coaches made up 81% of head coach hires, according to the NFL’s 2023 diversity and inclusion report (pdf). The Rooney Rule has since been adopted in a wide range of industries, with hundreds of Fortune 500 companies using a similar framework in their hiring practices.
“It is abundantly clear that the NFL and its member teams do indeed limit, segregate, or classify their employees or applicants for employment in ways that deprive at least some individuals of interview and employment opportunities specifically because of race, color, or sex,” the AFL said in its complaint to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Ian Prior, an AFL senior advisor, called the Rooney Rule “insulting and condescending to prospective coaches who are merely interviewed to check a box” in a statement. He added that if the NFL “truly wants to end discrimination in the employment process,” it should “follow the meritocratic system it displays on the field, and eliminate the Rooney Rule.”
An NFL spokesperson told the Washington Post it looks “forward to responding to this complaint and demonstrating that our policies and programs are fully consistent with the law and with fundamental notions of fairness.” The spokesperson added that the league is “proud of the work that we have done to promote equal employment opportunities for women and people of color and the resulting growth in diversity throughout the NFL.”
Neither the NFL nor AFL immediately responded to a Quartz request for comment.
The AFL continues its diversity lawsuits
The NFL is just the latest target of Miller’s legal group. In August, the AFL filed an EEOC complaint against cereal company Kellogg’s over its hiring practices which it argued were “unlawful” due to “seeking to ‘balance’ its workforce based on race, color, national origin, and sex.” The group said its equity hiring efforts were “a euphemism for illegal discrimination.” The group has also sued a range of companies for similar practices, including Target, Starbucks, Alaska Air, Nordstrom, Hershey, Unilever, Mars, BlackRock, AB InBev, Amazon, and more.
The AFL, which Miller co-founded in 2021 with fellow former Trump staffer Mark Meadows to combat the “radical activist left,” argues the diversity efforts at these companies harm their missions and shareholders. The group has also targeted US government agencies, including the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, and has addressed law and medical schools about admissions and hiring efforts.
Despite the backlash from the conservative group over its diversity hiring efforts, a Washington Post investigation found that under the Rooney Rule, Black coaches are still denied top jobs in the NFL.