Washington DC – The largest federal worker union in the nation today sued the Trump-Vance administration for forcing civil servants at the U.S. Department of Education to engage in partisan political rhetoric during the current federal shutdown. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) sent a cease and desist letter and filed a lawsuit today in District Court for the District of Columbia. AFGE is represented by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group in the matter.  

“Federal employees already are suffering financially by going without a salary due to this politically motivated government shutdown. Now the administration has directly and deliberately violated the First Amendment rights of furloughed workers at the Department of Education by replacing their out-of-office email messages with partisan political language without the employees’ consent,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “Our union will not stand silent while President Trump and his political puppets blatantly violate the law in yet-another assault on federal workers’ rights.”

Due to the government shutdown, furloughed public employees unable to respond to emails set up “out-of-office” replies to automatically respond to incoming messages. Earlier this week, the Department of Education replaced employees’ out-of-office email messages with partisan political language placing blame for the government shutdown. The changes were made without giving notice to the employees and without obtaining consent. The Trump-Vance administration’s use of official government resources to push partisan messaging is both unprecedented and in violation of the First Amendment. 

“The Trump-Vance administration is losing the blame game for the shutdown, so they’re using every tactic to try to fool the American people, including taking advantage of furloughed civil servants,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “Posting messages without consent to broadcast messages on behalf of a partisan agenda is a blatant violation of First Amendment rights. Even for an administration that has repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the Constitution and rule of law, this is beyond outrageous. The court must act immediately to stop this flagrant unlawfulness.”

“It is profoundly offensive for the government to commandeer federal employees’ voices for partisan purposes,” said Cormac Early, Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney. “Government workers have a First Amendment right not to be conscripted as political mouthpieces against their will.”

“Going far beyond the traditional and lawful use of the presidential bully pulpit, the Trump Administration is unlawfully compelling agencies and civil servants across the federal government to engage in political rhetoric to serve the interests of the governing party,” says the complaint. “Employees are now forced to involuntarily parrot the Trump Administration’s talking points with emails sent out in their names.”

The complaint is available here.

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Democracy Forward Foundation 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. 

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing more than 820,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia. For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center

Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power, and fight to ensure that our government works for the people. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.