Washington, D.C. – An accomplished group of bipartisan national security and legal experts has united to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a case challenging a Trump executive order that seeks to stifle the voices of working people by preventing them from joining unions.
The amicus brief was submitted by Democracy Forward and Kwun Bhansali Lazarus LLP, on behalf of Charles Blanchard, previous General Counsel of the Air Force and the Army; John A. Beed, a three-time USAID Mission Director; Mara Rudman, Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Obama and Clinton administrations; Mary DeRosa, former Deputy Assistant and Deputy Counsel to the President, as well as as National Security Council Legal Adviser in the Obama Administration; Suzanne Spaulding, the former Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) at the Department of Homeland Security; Ambassador Gordon Gray (ret.); Circuit Judge Michael Luttig (ret.); and the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
“The President’s union-busting efforts are not only bad for workers and unconstitutional, but they undermine our national security,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “We are honored to represent respected national security and legal experts on this brief.”
On March 27, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order to end collective bargaining with federal employees at a series of federal agencies relating to defense and national security. The amicus submitted today explains why the President’s stated rationale for his union-busting executive order is baseless.
“By ignoring the First Amendment and, more broadly, the rule of law, the executive order undermines national security,” reads the brief. “America’s ‘commitment to democratic values and the rule of law’ has contributed to its long-held status as a leader on the world stage and its “exceptional position within the international legal system.”
Read the amicus brief here and the motion describing the amici here.
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Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.