The New York Times said in a court filing Friday that the Trump administration had violated the newspaper’s First Amendment rights by suing it for employment discrimination. The Times called the government’s lawsuit an act of retaliation for its coverage of the Trump presidency.
In May, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a civil rights lawsuit. against The Times in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, alleging that the newspaper unlawfully discriminated against a white employee who did not get a desired promotion.
“The commission’s bad faith and retaliatory use of its authority to attack the Times violates the First and Fifth Amendments” and “poses an exceptionally insidious threat to a free and independent press,” Times lawyers said in a countersuit.
The Times said the EEOC had filed a lawsuit after President Trump and his aides criticized the company for its coverage of the administration, including articles about Trump’s plans to build a ballroom in the White House, his health and the war with Iran.
He said the lawsuit had been filed just days after The Times published two articles about the EEOC. In one, agency employees described feeling pressure to file cases alleging discrimination against white men and anti-Semitism on college campuses.
The EEOC’s case against The Times stems from a complaint filed with the commission last year by a then-staff editor who applied for a job as deputy real estate editor in 2025. The job went to a multiracial woman.
The Times’ “unlawful employment practices” were “conducted with malice or reckless indifference” to the employee’s “federally protected rights,” according to the EEOC complaint. The agency sought a court order stopping discrimination against the employee, as well as compensation and a deputy editor position for the editor.
A Times spokeswoman, Danielle Rhoades Ha, referred to its May statement, when she said the newspaper’s “employment practices are merit-based and focused on recruiting and promoting the world’s best talent.”
The EEOC declined to comment on active litigation.
The editor, Bryant Rousseau, resigned from The Times in early June. He could not be reached and his attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rousseau filed a separate complaint against The Times in the same case in June, echoing the EEOC’s legal arguments and highlighting his experience in real estate coverage. Before coming to The Times, Rousseau “spent more than seven years running highly respected magazines dedicated to real estate development, the real estate market, architecture and design,” it said.
The EEOC said Rousseau, who was not named in his complaint, had been interviewed for the deputy real estate editor position but not selected for a subsequent interview. He also argued that he was more qualified than the person who got the job. He cited Times diversity and inclusion reports that the EEOC said showed “express efforts to make employment decisions on the basis of race and sex to achieve desired demographic goals.”
The Times said in its countersuit that the company had informed the commission before the initial lawsuit that “black candidates of both sexes with more real estate experience than Mr. Rousseau also were not advanced during the hiring process.” He said that refuted the EEOC’s claims that his real estate experience should have earned him an interview at a later stage and that the decision not to advance him was based on his race and sex.
The Times seeks dismissal of the EEOC lawsuit, as well as payment of its costs and attorneys’ fees. He also sought a declaration that the agency violated the Times’ constitutional rights.
The Times previously accused the administration of retaliation in a lawsuit that challenged efforts by Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, to limit journalists’ access to the Pentagon.
In recent years, Trump and his administration have attacked the media and introduced restrictions on journalists covering the administration. Trump has sued ABC, the BBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Des Moines Register and The Times.
