An independent arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate opinion columnist Karen Attiah, who was fired in September 2025 over social media posts about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The arbitrator found that the newspaper did not have good and sufficient cause to dismiss Attiah, and that the firing breached her collective bargaining agreement. DR reports that the paper must now rehire her and compensate her with back pay.
The decision was written by arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa and is dated August 20, 2026. It was published by the Democracy Defenders Fund, which supported Attiah’s case together with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. The New York Times first reported the ruling on August 24.
The posts behind the firing
Attiah was dismissed after two posts on the social platform Bluesky on September 10, 2025, the day Kirk was shot and killed during a speech at a university in Utah. In one post, she wrote that refusing to take part in performative mourning for a white man who espoused violence was not itself violence.
According to the termination letter cited by DR, the paper argued that her comments endangered its integrity and could potentially put employees in physical danger. The letter also stated that the posts breached the newspaper’s social media guidelines.
Attiah told the proceedings that she wanted to highlight how Americans react to political violence, and that reactions often differ depending on the identity of the perpetrator. She had worked in the paper’s opinion section for 11 years, first as an editor and later as a columnist.
Reuters notes that the arbitrator found the paper failed to prove gross misconduct, and ordered reinstatement with back pay. As reported by CBS News, Attiah was at the time of her firing the last Black full-time member of the Post’s opinion desk. CBS News adds that it is not known whether the newspaper will challenge the decision.
A spokesperson for The Washington Post said the paper respects the arbitration process and had no further comment, according to The New York Times.
Reactions and background
The firing drew wide attention in the United States in 2025. Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration on X, writing that regulatory threats against media companies amounted to state coercion, and pointing to Attiah’s case.
The Post’s opinion section has also faced criticism since owner Jeff Bezos decided in early 2025 to refocus it on individual liberties and free markets. The New York Times reports that some readers canceled subscriptions in response.
Adam O’Neal, then editor of the opinion section, said during the case that he received text messages from several people about Attiah’s posts. He denied receiving messages about them from the president, the vice president or Bezos.
