A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from requiring civil service job applicants to profess loyalty to the president.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued the order Friday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston, siding with three unions that represent federal workers.
The ruling halts an Office of Personnel Management directive that told agencies to include an essay question asking applicants how they would advance President Donald Trump’s executive orders and policy priorities, according to the unions that sued.
O’Toole, a Clinton appointee, found the plaintiffs were likely to win their case, according to reporting by Reuters.
“The plaintiffs are thus likely to succeed in showing that there is no legitimate governmental interest in inquiring into the political beliefs of applicants to federal civil service vacancies,” he wrote, per Reuters.
More than 70,000 federal job postings have included the loyalty question, the plaintiffs said, compelling applicants to weigh in on political issues and discouraging others from applying.
“Requiring federal job applicants to answer politically motivated questions goes against the very nature of the nonpartisan civil service,” Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We are pleased the judge has put an immediate stop to the administration’s loyalty questions.”
Patrick Moran, the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, another plaintiff, called the requirement a partisan power grab.
“These ‘loyalty questions’ are a blatantly illegal attempt to hire partisan cronies who would endanger our communities by putting politics before people, rather than dedicated, qualified public service workers,” he said.
OPM has defended the essay question as optional and said hiring decisions could not be based on political beliefs, according to Reuters. The agency did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. It adopted the question after Trump signed a January 2025 executive order directing a new federal hiring plan.
O’Toole noted the question had been posed to applicants for jobs ranging from air traffic control specialist to crane operator to nuclear materials courier, and said workers reasonably read it as a test of their political views.
“Today’s decision reaffirms the importance of a nonpartisan civilian workforce that serves the American people,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
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