The Rooney Rule: Progress and Challenges

As the N.F.L. season comes to a close, we’re looking at a class-action lawsuit that Brian Flores, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has filed against the league.

At the heart of the case is the Rooney Rule, a policy the league implemented two decades ago that has since been adopted across corporate America.

We explore the lawsuit and the Rooney Rule, and we hear from Cyrus Mehri, a civil rights lawyer who helped create the policy.

Guest: Ken Belson, a reporter covering the N.F.L. for The New York Times.

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Background reading: 

• Brian Flores has sued the N.F.L. and its 32 teams alleging that they discriminated against him and other Black coaches in their hiring practices.
• After Mr. Flores’s lawsuit and a cycle in which only two nonwhite head coaches were hired, the Rooney Rule, the N.F.L.’s biggest diversity initiative, is facing new scrutiny.
• Those close to Mr. Flores say his lawsuit is in keeping with the sense of moral rectitude instilled in him by his mother as he grew up in a Brooklyn housing project.

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