Federal judge blocks Education Dept from blaming Democrats for govt shutdown on out-of-office emails
Nov. 7, 2025 | 6:30 pmA federal judge just blocked President Trump’s Education Department from using the out-of-office response on the emails of furloughed employees to blame Democrats for the government shutdown, calling it ‘partisan language’ and a violation of their First Amendment rights.
Here’s the news:
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
A federal judge has ruled that the partisan language the Trump admin added to the out-of-office emails of furloughed Education Department employees violates their First Amendment rights.
6:10 PM · Nov 7, 2025 · 26.5K Views
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1986934433757405683Here’s more from CNN:
A federal judge ruled Friday that the Department of Education violated the First Amendment rights of some agency employees when it sent out-of-office messages on their behalf that blamed Democrats for the government shutdown.
The ruling from US District Judge Christopher Cooper is the latest court rebuke of controversial moves by the Trump administration during what has now become the longest shutdown in US history.
Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said the department had unconstitutionally compelled its employees’ speech when it tinkered with the out-of-office messages for furloughed workers so that they included language blaming the shutdown on “Democrat Senators” who “are blocking” passage of a “clean continuing resolution” that would fund the government.
“Nonpartisanship is the bedrock of the federal civil service; it ensures that career government employees serve the public, not the politicians,” Cooper wrote. “But by commandeering its employees’ e-mail accounts to broadcast partisan messages, the Department chisels away at that foundation.”
He continued: “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 Department’s conduct therefore must cease.”
Cooper permanently barred the administration from “modifying furloughed employees’ out-of-office e-mail messages to include partisan speech” for all members of the union American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE represents more than 2,000 workers at the Department of Education.
https://therightscoop.com/breaking-federal-judge-blocks-education-dept-from-blaming-democrats-for-govt-shutdown-on-out-of-office-emails/
