Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a subpoena to the NFL on May 13, 2026, targeting the league’s Rooney Rule and other diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as potentially violating Florida law by promoting racial or gender diversity in hiring [1, 2]. Uthmeier called the Rooney Rule an act of "open discrimination" that "brazenly violates the Florida Civil Rights Act" by requiring race- and sex-based classifications in hiring decisions [1, 2]. He said, "the Rooney Rule and its offshoots require precisely what Florida law forbids. They require teams to limit, segregate, and classify applicants for certain employment and training opportunities because of race and sex" [2].
Implemented in 2003, the Rooney Rule requires NFL teams to interview at least two people of color or women for head coach and general manager jobs, and at least one person of color or woman for other senior roles [1]. Despite the subpoena, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March 2026 the league believes the Rooney Rule "is consistent with those [laws], has been around a long time and will continue to evolve" [1].
The subpoena orders the NFL to appear at the Florida Attorney General’s office in Tallahassee on June 12, 2026, at 9 a.m. The league must produce records from 2020 and earlier related to multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives, internal policies, hiring data including race and gender details, and communications with federal agencies [2].
In a related action on March 25, Uthmeier sent a letter warning the NFL that the Rooney Rule violates Florida law and demanded its repeal by May 1, a deadline the league did not meet [1, 2]. The subpoena marks an intensification of Florida’s effort to challenge the NFL’s longstanding diversity hiring efforts.
The NFL is expected to comply with the subpoena on June 12. The confrontation lays the groundwork for a possible legal battle over the limits of diversity policies under Florida law.
