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A group dedicated to defending the rule of law from authoritarianism and corruption said it had succeeded in its “monumental defense of the First Amendment” on Monday after an independent arbitrator ruled that The Washington Post had wrongfully fired columnist Karen Attiah last September over social media posts she wrote about assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, and ordered the newspaper to rehire Attiah.

“The ruling marks a landmark moment for press freedom, confirming that corporate media institutions cannot use retaliatory discipline to silence journalists who address uncomfortable truths,” said Democracy Defenders Fund, which signed on to represent Attiah, along with the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, when she filed a grievance against the Post arguing she had been wrongfully terminated.

The arbitrator, Sarah Miller Espinosa, said in the binding decision that the Post “did not have good and sufficient cause to terminate” Attiah’s employment, which it did after then-opinion editor Adam O’Neal complained about her social media posts to a human resources officer and then-CEO Will Lewis.

Espinosa ordered the Post to provide Attiah with full back pay and benefits. Attiah has said she would be “willing to go back” to the newspaper.

In her posts, Attiah suggested that while influential figures on the far right demanded what she called “performative mourning” for Kirk, who was known for “debating” liberal college students and was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley........

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