Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—State Department reverts to Times New Roman font, despite prior articulated accessibility concerns, (Dec 10, 2025)

By Jason Albright, J.D.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had ordered a shift to a font without serifs in 2023 to improve accessibility for readers with low vision or dyslexia and users of screen readers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered U.S. diplomats to return to using the Times New Roman font in official communications, referring to the Biden administration’s 2023 choice to switch to the Calibri font as a “wasteful” DEIA-related change, according to an “Action Request” memo obtained and reported by The New York Times.

Rubio’s memo. In the memo, which the newspaper confirmed with the agency to be authentic, Rubio says the reversion of fonts is intended to “restore decorum and professionalism to the department’s written work.” Headed “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper,” the memo reportedly blames “radical” diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs for what Rubio characterizes as a misguided and ineffective prior change.

2023 font change. In 2023, Antony J. Blinken, the prior Secretary of State, had ordered the change to Calibri based on a recommendation from the agency’s office of diversity and inclusion, which Rubio has abolished. The 2023 change had been intended to improve accessibility to agency documents for readers with disabilities, including those with low vision or dyslexia and users of screen readers.

EEOC guidance. An EEOC technical assistance document, issued in July 2023 and currently appearing on the EEOC’s website, describes assistive or accessible technology or materials, which may be required under the ADA to accommodate applicants and employees, as including “Written materials in more accessible or alternate formats, such as in large print, sans serif fonts, braille, a recorded format, or an accessible shared document format, including those provided via QR code.”

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