An arbitrator ruled on August 24, 2026 that The Washington Post wrongly fired opinion columnist Karen Attiah and ordered the paper to reinstate her with back pay. The Post fired Attiah on September 15, 2025. She'd posted on Bluesky the day Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was shot, including one post that quoted him saying "Black women do not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously." Kirk's actual 2023 line named four specific women — it didn't say that. Arbitrator Sarah Miller Espinosa found the Post lacked "good and sufficient cause" to fire her. She called the move "absolutely disproportional" and noted the paper fired Attiah about four hours after its HR chief saw the posts. Attiah joined the Post in 2014 and became an Opinions columnist in 2021.

1. This Was Wrongful Termination, Full Stop (Karen Attiah, the Washington Post Guild)

The arbitrator's own findings back this up: the Post skipped its process and couldn't prove misconduct.

This was wrongful termination, plain and simple. "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 said. She told the New York Times she's "willing to go back" to the paper.

The Post didn't meet its own standard. Its labor contract requires either progressive discipline or actual gross misconduct before a firing. Espinosa found the Post couldn't establish gross misconduct. She also rejected the Post's argument that Attiah was to blame for violent threats other people sent her online. The ruling called that justification "wholly rejected."

The Post skipped its own process. The Washington Post Guild backed Attiah's grievance under the union's contract and says the ruling vindicates its fight. The union argued the Post moved too fast, firing her within hours instead of following its own disciplinary steps.

2. This Was Bad Journalism (Robby Soave, Turning Point USA's Andrew Kolvet)

Soave says this isn't about her opinions. Attiah attributed a quote to Kirk that he never said, after he was dead.

This was bad journalism. "She egregiously misquoted Charlie Kirk, which is journalistic malpractice," wrote Robby Soave, a senior editor at Reason. "WaPo fired her, as was their right. Fine by me. It's not her opinions, it's bad journalism."

The quote wasn't real. Kirk's actual 2023 remarks named four specific women — Michelle Obama, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, then-Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, and commentator Joy Reid — not "Black women" as a class, according to a Snopes fact-check.

Companies shouldn't have to keep employees like this. Andrew Kolvet is a spokesman for Turning Point USA, the group Kirk founded. "In general, if someone reveals themselves to be a ghoul then companies should be able to fire them," he told Fox News Digital.

Where This Lands

Attiah and her union say the Post cut corners on its own process and got called on it. Soave and Kirk's allies say the process question is beside the point when a journalist puts a fabricated quote in print. The arbitrator's ruling settles the labor question — the Post has to take her back with pay. It doesn't settle the other one.

Sources