The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest labor union for federal workers, sued the Trump administration late Friday over blatantly partisan language that it said was inserted without consent in the out-of-office emails of furloughed workers during the government shutdown.
“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,” the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, said.
It was the first legal challenge to the administration’s efforts during the shutdown to politicize the nonpartisan federal work force. The suit named the Department of Education and the secretary of education, Linda McMahon, as defendants. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The shutdown began on Wednesday after Congress could not come to an agreement over how to fund the federal government. The White House enlisted the federal work force to parrot its partisan rhetoric blaming Democrats, posting notifications on government websites and directing furloughed workers to use specific language in their out-of-office emails.
“Forcing civil servants to speak on behalf of the political leadership’s partisan agenda is a blatant violation of federal employees’ First Amendment rights,” the complaint said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Due to staff shortages resulting from the Democrat Shutdown, the typical 24/7 monitoring of this press inbox may experience delays,” an automatic response from the White House said. “We ask for your patience as our staff work to field your requests in a timely manner. As you await a response, please remember this could have been avoided if the Democrats voted for the clean Continuing Resolution to keep the government open.”
Eileen Sullivan is a Times reporter covering the changes to the federal work force under the Trump administration.
The post Federal Workers’ Union Sues Administration Over Partisan Email Language appeared first on New York Times.
