In Today’s News and Commentary, updates on challenges to the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, Nepalis, Hondurans, and Nicaraguans, the NFL asks the Supreme Court to reverse a decision striking down its internal arbitration process, EEOC wins summary judgment in a retaliation claim on behalf of a dental assist, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani taps seasoned worker advocates to join his team.

On Tuesday, Judge Ana Reyes of the District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments regarding a motion to dismiss the amended complaint in Miot v. Trump, one of multiple legal challenges to the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. Bloomberg reports that Judge Reyes queried how Haitian immigrants could safely return to a country deemed unsafe for travel by the government and why exactly was it a national interest to remove Haitians. Judge Reyes also suggested that the record raised concerns the termination decision may have been made in bad faith or even preordained, and ultimately instructed the plaintiffs to make a limited request of key decision makers’ communications. Meanwhile, Judge Trina Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied the government’s motion to dismiss in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, ruling that the termination of Temporary Protected Status for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal was unlawful. Judge Thompson wrote that the cancellation of Temporary Protected Status was a “preordained, political decision” that violated the Administrative Procedure Act and was not based on an objective review of country conditions. The Equal Protection claims alleging the termination was motivated by “racial animus” were temporarily stayed in order to allow courts to weigh in on statutory issues first, thus allowing the courts to preserve judicial resources.

         Also on Tuesday, the NFL’s petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court to reverse a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision that struck down its employment arbitration program was docketed. In August, a three-judge panel on the Second Circuit held the league arbitration process was unconscionable and should not be used in the proposed racial discrimination class action brought by former Miami Dolphins head coach and current defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings Brian Flores. In October, the second Circuit rejected the NFL’s request for an en banc review. The NFL has now asked the Supreme Court to determine “whether an arbitration agreement governing disputes in a professional sports league is categorically unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act because it designates the league commissioner as the default arbitrator and permits the commissioner to develop arbitral procedures.” Law360 reports that the NFL has described the Second Circuit’s decision as creating a “novel federal unconscionability doctrine that gives judges free-floating discretion to deem arbitration agreements unenforceable based solely on their subjective determinations that certain arbitral procedures are unfair.”

Judge Maurice Hicks Jr. of the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted summary judgment in favor of the EEOC on its retaliation claim on behalf of a Destiny Johnson, a Black dental assistant who was placed on leave and subsequently fired for having complained about being asked if she had attended a Black Lives Matter protest. Bloomberg reports that this is a “rare case in which direct proof of bias or retaliation is found and reaffirms that a workplace complaint doesn’t need to be based on actual discrimination” to be protected under Title VII. Johnson’s internal complaint was protected because she subjectively believed the protest inquiry singled her out (she was the only Black employee present and the question was posed in front of White employees), and the CEO said over text that Johnson’s firing was due to the “introduction of race” into the workplace. Judge Hicks Jr. did not grant summary judgment on the race discrimination and harassment claims, however, noting that it was questionable whether the BLM-protest question alone would support a race discrimination claim or show the work environment was racially hostile.

Lastly, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appointed Julie Su, who served as the Acting Secretary of Labor under President Biden, as New York City’s First Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice. And Sam A.A. Levine, the former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, to serve as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.