The New York Times in a court filing on Friday accused the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of illegally retaliating against the newspaper for its coverage of President Donald Trump’s administration by suing it for passing over a white man for a top editorial role.
The countersuit filed in Manhattan federal court seeks to dismiss the EEOC’s lawsuit filed in May, a declaration that the agency’s actions violate the newspaper’s rights to free speech and due process under the U.S. Constitution, and other remedies.
The Times denied the agency’s claims and said its aspirational diversity goals played no role in the company’s decision to promote a multiracial woman to a deputy editor position instead of a white man.
“The Commission’s retaliatory, bad faith use of its authority to target The Times … poses a uniquely insidious threat to a free and independent press, and to our democracy,” lawyers for the Times wrote in the filing.
An EEOC spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit is among the commission’s most high-profile moves so far in a crackdown on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. The EEOC is also investigating diversity efforts at Nike and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance and has sued a Coca-Cola bottler for excluding men from a networking event.
Trump, a Republican, issued executive orders soon after beginning his second term last year aimed at ending DEI in government, education and the private sector.
Trump is also suing the Times in a $15 billion defamation lawsuit, accusing it of trying to sabotage his 2024 election campaign and disparage his reputation as a businessman.
The EEOC sued the newspaper on behalf of Bryant Rousseau, an 11-year Times veteran who sought a promotion to deputy real estate editor in early 2025 after working primarily as a senior staff editor on the international desk.
According to the complaint, the Times had for several years tried to hire more Black, Hispanic and female employees to create a diverse newsroom, and in 2024 decided it needed more non-white leaders.
The EEOC said that despite being qualified for the promotion, Rousseau never made it to the final hiring stage, where a less qualified multiracial female was chosen over a white female, Black male and Asian female.
The Times in Friday’s filing denied wrongdoing and said the selected candidate had more experience and was better qualified for the job than Rousseau.
The Times accused the EEOC of filing the lawsuit in response to critical coverage, noting that Trump has labeled the newspaper a “true enemy of the people.”
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Franklin Paul, David Gaffen, Alexia Garamfalvi and David Gregorio)
