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The Department of Education has been ordered to stop inserting political language into furloughed employees’ out-of-office email messages after a federal judge ruled that the agency violated workers’ First Amendment rights during the government shutdown.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper found that the department compelled speech by editing automatic replies for staff who had been furloughed, shifting them to messages that blamed “Democrat Senators” for blocking a funding bill. The revised messages claimed those lawmakers were preventing passage of a “clean continuing resolution” needed to keep government agencies running.
Cooper wrote that the decision to use employee email accounts to send political messaging compromised the neutrality that is expected of federal civil servants. “Non-partisanship is the bedrock of the federal civil service; it ensures that career government employees serve the public, not the politicians,” he said. “But by commandeering its employees’ e-mail accounts to broadcast partisan messages, the Department chisels away at that foundation.”
Court bars future edits
The ruling permanently bans the agency from adding partisan content to out-of-office messages for employees represented by the American Federation of Government Employees. The union represents more than 2,000 workers at the Department of Education and had challenged the agency’s actions as "compelled speech".
Cooper wrote that senior officials are still free to express their political views, but cannot speak through staff without consent.
“Political officials are free to blame whomever they wish for the shutdown, but they cannot use rank-and-file civil servants as their unwilling spokespeople,” he wrote. “The First Amendment stands in their way.”
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Shutdown negotiations continue
The decision comes as lawmakers advance a deal intended to end what has become the longest government shutdown in US history. A procedural Senate vote has moved forward a House-approved measure to extend government funding until 30 January.
Some 300,000 federal employees are expected to leave government positions by the end of the year as part of a broader downsizing effort. The shutdown, which began on 1 October, led to millions of Americans experiencing disruptions to services ranging from national parks to social security functions. Non-essential government functions were paused, and employees in those areas were furloughed without pay.
Donald Trump said the agreement suggested progress toward reopening the government. “It looks like we’re getting very close to the shutdown ending,” he told reporters.
The Senate vote cleared the 60-40 threshold required to overcome a filibuster, the procedural tool that empowers the minority party to delay or block a piece of legislation they oppose, but the measure still requires House approval before being sent to the president.
It also contains a provision preventing federal agencies from firing employees until 30 January, a development welcomed by worker unions involved in the negotiations.
