New Proposed Rule Targets Non-Partisan Civil Service

Washington, DC – The Trump administration will publish a new proposed regulation in the Federal Register tomorrow, attempting to target the non-partisan civil service – who work for all Americans – by reclassifying employees and making it easier to fire them, in violation of civil service protections enshrined by law. 

Democracy Forward understands the non-partisan, independent civil service is critical for enabling the government to deliver on its responsibilities for all Americans, and warned of the threats that Project 2025’s outline for imposing Schedule F posed to the civil service in two congressional hearings last year. To address these threats, we launched Civil Service Strong, a resource center to support public servants and to assist federal workers unfairly targeted. Last week, Democracy Forward joined a growing coalition of organizations to support Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network, a new project to connect federal workers whose rights have been violated by the Trump administration with free legal representation. 

On January 28, 2025 and January 29, 2025, Democracy Forward filed two lawsuits challenging President Trump’s Executive Order “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce.” The order, nearly identical to his previous Schedule F executive order in 2020, would lay the groundwork to convert a huge percentage of the federal civil service from employees who can only be fired for cause to at-will employees who can be fired for any reason at all.  

Please find below a statement from Skye Perryman, President & CEO of Democracy Forward:

“The vast majority of the American people believe that people who work in our federal government should be hired and promoted based on merit, not loyalty. Ripped from the Project 2025 playbook, this proposed rule is an attempt by the Trump administration to displace those values and make the test for working in senior positions in the federal government one that is about ideology and politics, as opposed to merit and service. The proposed rule also spreads misinformation and misleads the American people about the dedication and expertise of the non-partisan federal workforce. 

“Let’s be clear: Trump’s revamped Schedule F rule has only one goal – to undermine the ability of our government to work for the American people by making it easier to target hard-working civil servants for firing and then replacing them with political loyalists. A civil service built on political loyalty did not work for this country in the 1800s and was rejected due to risks of corruption and inefficiency. 2025 is not the time to return to the 19th century.  

“By law, the administration is required to ensure that people can make their voices heard regarding this new proposal. We encourage – and our team will support – all Americans, communities and sectors to weigh in during this period and make it clear that weakening protections for those who serve our nation is a threat to the wellbeing of all people. 

“Democracy Forward will continue to challenge any attempt to dismantle the federal government’s merit-based, non-partisan civil service – the more than 2 million federal workers who live and work in every state across the country – and we will continue to support federal workers who have been unfairly targeted and unlawfully fired through our Civil Service Strong initiative.” 

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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.