An independent arbitrator has ordered The Washington Post to reinstate journalist Karen Attiah with full back pay and benefits, ruling that the news organization had no just cause to fire her over social media posts about race and political violence following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Attiah, a past Root 100 honoree, spent more than a decade at The Post as an opinion columnist and editor, including as a founding editor of Global Opinions. She was fired in September 2025 after the social media posts about Kirk. At the time, The Post characterized her conduct as “gross misconduct,” according to the New York Times.
Now, an independent arbitrator has found the Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to terminate Attiah and violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild. Sarah Miller Espinosa, the arbitrator, ruled the paper failed to establish grounds for the termination, finding Attiah’s posts did not disparage any group and rejecting The Post’s attempt to hold her responsible for threats made against her by others.
“This decision confirms what we’ve said from the start: I was doing my job as an opinion writer, and this was wrongful termination,” Attiah wrote in a statement following the ruling. She added that she was “relieved to finally have that record set straight.”
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The ruling is significant, coming following mass layoffs at The Post and other mainstream news organizations. Opinion journalism exists precisely to engage difficult conversations. According to the ruling, a columnist hired to analyze race, gender, power and human rights cannot suddenly be treated as though expressing an unpopular opinion is itself evidence of professional misconduct.
Attiah was fired just one day after Kirk’s murder, after taking to Bluesky to share her reflections. “Part of what keeps America so violent is the insistence that people perform care, empty goodness and absolution for white men who espouse hatred and violence,” Attiah posted on September 10. She later added, “Refusing to tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence is…. not the same as violence.”
Attiah’s firing came during a wave of terminations, suspensions and doxxing campaigns aimed at people who criticized Kirk or resurfaced his own remarks in the days after his death. Teachers, nurses, flight attendants and journalists lost jobs over social media posts, and conservative activists circulated lists of employers to pressure.
Attiah’s case went to arbitration in June after the News Guild filed a grievance on Attiah’s behalf. She was also represented by Democracy Defenders Fund, the legal organization founded by former Obama administration ethics czar Norm Eisen.
The Post said it “respects the arbitration process” but declined to comment further. The paper has not said whether it will appeal or when Attiah will return.
