{"id":210592,"date":"2026-03-29T13:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/210592\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T13:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T13:10:09","slug":"florida-ag-challenges-nfl-rooney-rule-over-dolphins-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/210592\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida AG challenges NFL Rooney Rule over Dolphins | Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Florida\u2019s attorney general is taking aim at the NFL\u2019s hiring practices, and the Miami Dolphins are part of the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/armandosalguero\/status\/2036927834581524541?s=43\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">post on X<\/a>, longtime NFL reporter Armando Salguero shared a copy of a letter sent by Attorney General James Uthmeier to Commissioner Roger Goodell, raising concerns about the league\u2019s \u201cRooney Rule\u201d and related diversity initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier says <a href=\"https:\/\/operations.nfl.com\/inside-football-ops\/inclusion\/the-rooney-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rooney Rule<\/a> may violate Florida\u2019s anti-DEI law<\/p>\n<p>                        <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAQAAAADCAQAAAAe\/WZNAAAAEElEQVR42mM8U88ABowYDABAxQPltt5zqAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==\" alt=\"florida-ag-letter-nfl-rooney-rule-uthmeier-goodell.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive lazyload full default\" width=\"1654\" height=\"1253\" data- data-\/><\/p>\n<p>A March 25, 2026 letter from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell challenges the Rooney Rule, saying the league\u2019s diversity hiring policies may conflict with Florida law.<\/p>\n<p>The rule, which requires teams to interview minority candidates for top positions like head coach and general manager, is intended to promote diversity in hiring.<\/p>\n<p>Uthmeier argues those policies amount to race- and sex-based preferences, which he says conflict with the Florida Civil Rights Act and the state\u2019s broader effort to <a title=\"Florida House passes bill banning local government DEI initiatives\" href=\"https:\/\/www.islandernews.com\/tncms\/asset\/editorial\/809c2e02-ad3e-408a-ad87-00430cd38bc7\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">roll back DEI<\/a> (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs.<\/p>\n<p>Florida lawmakers have moved in recent years to restrict DEI initiatives, including legislation aimed at banning certain diversity programs at the local government level.<\/p>\n<p>The attorney general\u2019s letter suggests those same principles could extend to private organizations operating in the state, setting up a potential clash between state law and longstanding NFL policy.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the Miami Dolphins, the NFL also has two other teams in Florida, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jacksonville Jaguars.<\/p>\n<p>The NFL has not publicly responded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s attorney general is taking aim at the NFL\u2019s hiring practices, and the Miami Dolphins are part of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[96410,28,96412,96409,30,29,121,4260,126,1763,96414,10365,96413,96411,94733,2964],"class_list":["post-210592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-armando-salguero","tag-florida","tag-florida-anti-dei-law","tag-florida-attorney-general-nfl","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-james-uthmeier","tag-key-biscayne","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-miami-dolphins-head-coach-hiring","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl-diversity-hiring-challenge","tag-nfl-rooney-rule-florida","tag-rooney-rule","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}