A federal judge has determined that the Trump administration breached the First Amendment by distributing automated emails and messages that attributed the government shutdown to Democrats. This ruling came down on Friday, marking a significant rebuke of partisan communication within federal departments.

Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court found that the Department of Education overstepped its bounds by compelling federal employees to disseminate partisan speech. The decision underscores the principle that federal workers should remain nonpartisan, serving the public rather than political interests.

This legal battle was initiated by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which was represented by the Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group. The union had previously issued a cease and desist letter and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education, challenging the political nature of the statements included in employee email responses.

In his memorandum, Judge Cooper emphasized the importance of maintaining a nonpartisan federal civil service. “Nonpartisanship is the bedrock of the federal civil service; it ensures that career government employees serve the public, not the politicians,” he stated. He criticized the Department’s actions, noting that using employee email accounts for partisan messages undermines this foundation.

Judge Cooper further clarified that while political officials have the liberty to assign blame for the shutdown as they see fit, they cannot enlist civil servants as unwilling mouthpieces for their views. “The First Amendment stands in their way,” he asserted, concluding that the Department’s partisan conduct must come to an end.

The ruling states that the DOE “waited until its furloughed employees lost access to their email, then “gratuitously changed their out-of-office messages to include yet another partisan
message, thereby turning its own workforce into political spokespeople through their official email accounts.”

“The Department may have added insult to injury, but it also overplayed its hand,” Cooper wrote.

Cooper also ruled that the DOE must change its automated email messages back to those originally written by the department’s employees.

The Campaign Legal Center’s vice president and senior director of ethics Kedric Payne praised Cooper’s decision and added that the fight will continue “for our nation’s civil service to remain nonpartisan.”

“The Hatch Act and related laws make it clear that partisan politics have no place in a civil servant’s official duties,” Payne said in a statement.

The Hill has reached out to the DOE for comment. An automated response blamed Senate Democrats for blocking the passage of a continuing resolution to fund the government.

“Due to the lapse in appropriations, we are currently in furlough status,” the automated email read. “We will respond to emails once government functions resume.”