Education Dept. Violated Furloughed Workers’ Free Speech by Putting Anti-Democrat Messages in Their Email
Dist. Judge Christopher R. Cooper issued an injunction prohibiting the department from inserting “partisan political speech” into AFGE members’ out-of-office messages, and if it was not technologically possible to separate out union members, to remove it from all employees’ messages.
By Steve Wishnia
The Trump administration violated furloughed federal workers’ free-speech rights during the shutdown when it changed their automated out-of-office email replies to blame “Democrat Senators,” a federal judge in Washington ruled Nov. 7.
Ruling on a lawsuit by the American Federation of Government Employees against the Department of Education, District Judge Christopher R. Cooper held that the altered emails were an unconstitutional form of compelled speech. He issued an injunction prohibiting the department from inserting “partisan political speech” into AFGE members’ out-of-office messages, and if it was not technologically possible to separate out union members, to remove it from all employees’ messages.
“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. The First Amendment stands in their way.”
“Nonpartisanship is the bedrock of the federal civil service; it ensures that career government employees serve the public, not the politicians,” Judge Cooper, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2014, wrote. “But by commandeering its employees’ e-mail accounts to broadcast partisan messages, the Department chisels away at that foundation. 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. The First Amendment stands in their way.”
“The Trump-Vance administration’s use of official government resources to spread partisan messaging using employees’ email was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment, and the court’s ruling makes clear that even this administration is not above the law,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
After the government shutdown—officially, a “lapse in appropriations”—began Oct. 1, several federal agencies posted partisan banners on their websites. “The radical left has chosen to shut down the United States government in the name of reckless spending and obstructionism,” the Treasury Department fumed. The State and the Health and Human Services departments called it “the Democrat-led shutdown.” “President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people,” the Department of Agriculture declared.
The Education Department, however, went one step further. On Sept. 30, with the shutdown looming, it had instructed employees facing furloughs to prepare an out-of-office reply, suggesting “We are unable to respond to your request due to a lapse in appropriations for the Department of Education” as a template.
But on Oct. 1, department official Chase Forrester implemented a “standardized” reply:
“Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution,” it read. “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
AFGE filed the lawsuit on Oct. 3, accusing the Trump administration of “unlawfully compelling agencies and civil servants across the federal government to engage in political rhetoric to serve the interests of the governing party.”
“Employees are now forced to involuntarily parrot the Trump Administration’s talking points with emails sent out in their names,” it added.
On Oct. 6, the Education Department responded by changing the outgoing messages to the third person: “The Department employee you have contacted is currently in furlough status. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. The employee you have contacted will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
The department claimed that this rendered the message impersonal, in its voice instead of the employee’s voice. Citing Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision prohibiting union shops at public-sector employers, it argued the government “may insist that [its] employee[s] deliver any lawful message.”
Judge Cooper had little patience for that argument. AFGE, he noted, had contended that out-of-office messages are naturally associated with their sender, with one worker stating that even the revised message forced them “to appear partisan.”
The judge, ironically, also cited Janus, writing that the department “does not have a ‘legitimate need’ to insert partisan speech in its employees’ out-of-office messages.”
“The employees’ interest in not being compelled to speak far exceeds the government’s interest in delivering a patently partisan message through its rank-and-file employees,” he concluded.
Work-Bites contacted the Education Department’s press office, and got the following automated response.
“Thank you for contacting the press team. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse in appropriations, we are currently in furlough status. We will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
The office did not post any press releases for the first four weeks of the shutdown, but posted three between Oct. 30 and Nov. 10.