Florida AG warns NFL: Drop affirmative action ‘Rooney Rule’ or face legal consequences

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Florida’s chief law enforcement officer announced Wednesday he will warn NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that the NFL’s longstanding "Rooney Rule" mandating interviews for minority and ethnically diverse candidates is illegal in the Sunshine State. The rule, named for late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who chaired the NFL’s Diversity Committee, went into effect in 2003 after Black coaches Tony Dungy and Dennis Green were fired the previous season despite strong win-loss records. Attorney General James Uthmeier’s state hosts three teams — the Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins — and the AG is a fan of the latter. INVESTIGATION OF NIKE'S DEI PRACTICES COULD HAVE MAJOR NATIONWIDE IMPACT ON HIRING, SAYS ALAN DERSHOWITZ "As a Floridian, I wish the Miami Dolphins well with their new head football coach. As Florida’s chief legal officer, however, I write with a word of caution to the NFL on its race-and-sex-based hiring policies," he wrote in a letter to Goodell obtained by Fox News Digital. Goodell must, in turn, confirm no later than May 1 that the NFL will no longer enforce the Rooney Rule or any variation of it or face civil rights enforcement actions. "As applied in Florida, the NFL’s ‘Rooney Rule,’ which governs the hiring of certain team executives and coaches, brazenly violates Florida law. So, too, do the NFL’s related 'diversity' initiatives," the letter adds. Uthmeier told Fox News Digital the NFL drafts players based on merit and should do the same in the front office. "NFL teams are not going to hire an offensive lineman based on his race. So, why should hiring for positions off the field be based on illegal DEI quotas ?" he said. "DEI is discriminatory and illegal. The NFL doesn’t get special treatment, and any business operating in Florida is required to comply with Florida law. Good coaches are judged on wins, not the color of their skin." WATCHDOG GROUP EXPOSES IDAHO COLLEGES' ALLEGED SCHEME TO SIDESTEP NEW…