In a move that took government workers and legal experts by surprise, the Trump administration has been slapped with a lawsuit after altering federal employees’ out-of-office email replies to push a blatantly partisan message. The unsolicited edits came during the latest government shutdown—and they weren’t just spin. They were marching orders for federal employees to blame Democrats for the funding lapse, even if those employees wanted no part of it.
The lawsuit, filed Friday by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) along with Democracy Forward and other public-interest legal groups, says what happened isn’t just unethical. It’s unconstitutional.
“Federal employees already are suffering financially by going without a salary,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “Now the administration has directly and deliberately violated the First Amendment rights of furloughed workers.”
Here’s how it went down: When government funding ran out, furloughed employees at federal agencies, like always, were expected to set up automatic replies explaining their unavailability. But last Thursday, workers at the Department of Education noticed something unusual—actually, something outrageous. Their previously nonpartisan autoresponders had been overwritten. In their place? Messaging that pointed the finger directly at Democrats for the shutdown. And the kicker? Workers didn’t consent to any of it.
The altered messages were first reported by NBC News and later confirmed by Education Department employees speaking to HuffPost. The new language echoed Trump’s talking points almost word-for-word. It was political messaging, pumped straight into the inboxes of anyone who reached out to these employees—family members, job applicants, other government officials, you name it.
Many of the workers affected were stunned. Some immediately recognized this as a Hatch Act violation in the making. That law strictly limits political activity by federal employees—especially using their positions or government resources for partisan ends.
The lawsuit calls the language in the altered emails “compelled speech” and a clear First Amendment violation.
“[The administration has] no legitimate interest in forcing Department employees to recite partisan words that they would not have spoken otherwise,” the complaint reads.
And this wasn’t a one-off incident. At the Department of Health and Human Services, employees were also handed pre-written shutdown messages that squarely blamed Democrats. The same kind of messaging started showing up on official government websites and even in a national newsletter for veterans. Again, all without worker approval.
According to Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, it was a desperate attempt to take control of a political narrative that was slipping through Trump’s fingers.
“Posting messages without consent to broadcast messages on behalf of a partisan agenda is a blatant violation of First Amendment rights,” Perryman said. “Even for an administration that has repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the Constitution and rule of law, this is beyond outrageous.”
The lawsuit demands that the administration stop the partisan messaging immediately. AFGE has also fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the administration demanding it put an end to the political messaging in workers’ autoreplies.
