Civil-Service

Federal Judge Rules Trump Administration Violated First Amendment by Forcing Partisan Auto-Reply Messages on Federal Employees

| Importance: 8/10

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment by commandeering Education Department employees’ email accounts to send partisan messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. The automated responses stated that the House passed …

Christopher Cooper Department of Education American Federation of Government Employees first-amendment civil-service government-shutdown judicial-rebuke partisan-abuse
Read more →

Supreme Court 6-3 Stay Authorizes Mass Federal Workforce Reductions at 22 Agencies

| Importance: 9/10

The Supreme Court issued a 6-3 stay allowing the Trump administration to proceed with mass federal workforce reductions at 22 agencies, overturning a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Susan Illston. The decision enabled immediate implementation of layoffs that had been blocked as likely …

Supreme Court Trump Administration American Federation of Government Employees supreme-court civil-service institutional-dismantling judicial-enablement
Read more →

154,000 Federal Employees Accept Deferred Resignation Program Buyouts

| Importance: 8/10

Trump administration’s Deferred Resignation Program sees 154,000 federal employees placed on paid administrative leave while accepting buyouts to l…

Trump Administration OPM Federal employees government-restructuring government-capacity re-wire-personnel schedule-f federal-workforce +5 more
Read more →

Monica Goodling Admits Political Screening of DOJ Lawyers

| Importance: 7/10

Monica Goodling, White House liaison and senior counsel to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, testified under immunity that she violated federal law by applying political loyalty tests to career Justice Department positions. A 1999 graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regent University Law School, …

Monica Goodling Alberto Gonzales Regent University DOJ Congress doj-politicization regent-university goodling civil-service political-screening
Read more →

Hatch Act Restricts Federal Workers' Political Activity After Allegations of WPA Election Interference

| Importance: 7/10

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Hatch Act on August 2, 1939, after Senator Carl Hatch (D-NM) introduces legislation prohibiting federal civil service employees from engaging in partisan political activities, following widespread allegations that local Democratic politicians used Works …

Carl Hatch Franklin D. Roosevelt U.S. Congress Works Progress Administration federal employees political-activity new-deal civil-service conservative-sabotage wpa
Read more →