Karen Attiah has won a major victory against The Washington Post nearly a year after the newspaper fired her over social media posts following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

A private arbitrator ruled that the Post violated its labor agreement when it dismissed Attiah in September 2025, finding that the newspaper lacked “good and sufficient cause” to terminate her. The decision ordered her immediate reinstatement and back pay.

Sarah Miller Espinosa, the arbitrator, said in a written decision Thursday that The Post “did not have good and sufficient cause” to terminate Ms. Attiah and “violated” its labor agreement, according to a copy of the decision shared with The New York Times by Ms. Attiah’s lawyers.

“The Washington Post failed to establish the grievant engaged in gross misconduct,” Ms. Espinosa wrote.

The New York Times

Attiah’s firing followed a series of Bluesky posts in which she discussed gun violence, racial double standards and her refusal to perform public mourning for Kirk. She also referenced remarks Kirk had previously made about prominent Black women, placing her response within a broader argument about race and political violence.

It is genuinely good to see Karen Attiah win this fight and return to The Washington Post. Her case matters because the backlash after Charlie Kirk’s killing tested who society was actually willing to let exercise free speech.

The Charlie Kirk Firings Exposed a Major Free Speech Contradiction

The irony was impossible to miss. Many of the same political voices that routinely present themselves as defenders of unrestricted expression supported campaigns to identify, shame and remove people from their jobs for criticising Kirk after his death. More than 600 people were reportedly fired, investigated or otherwise punished over their posts, and at least 14 First Amendment lawsuits involving public employees have followed.

Some of those workers have already won significant settlements. Florida wildlife biologist Brittney Brown received a $485,000 settlement after suing over her dismissal for a private Instagram post. Ball State University agreed to pay former employee Suzanne Swierc $225,000 after firing her over a private Facebook post criticising Kirk. Austin Peay State University also reinstated professor Darren Michael and agreed to a $500,000 settlement.

And criticism of Kirk did not emerge from nowhere. Fact-checkers confirmed that he made a number of inflammatory statements that circulated after his death, although some viral claims were inaccurate or stripped of context. Among the verified remarks were comments attacking prominent Black women while discussing affirmative action.

Nobody was required to celebrate Kirk’s murder, and threatening or celebrating political violence is different from criticising a public figure’s record. But mourning should never become a loyalty test.

If free speech means anything, it has to protect speech that powerful people dislike too. Attiah challenged her firing through the protections available to her, and the arbitrator concluded that the Post lacked sufficient cause to dismiss her. Seeing her reinstated is therefore bigger than one journalist getting her job back. It is another reminder that political outrage does not automatically erase workers’ rights.