Despite the lapse in government funding, and the furloughing of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, the government continues to post new job opportunities – now with a new and unlawful essay seeking loyalty to President Trump.
More than 1,700 job announcements posted since Oct. 1 have included the open-ended essay question, which asks potential civil servants about their political agreement with the Trump-Vance administration’s political agenda. This unprecedented “loyalty question” asks applicants to identify one or two of President Trump’s Executive Orders or policy initiatives that “are significant to you” and explain how the applicant would help advance them if hired.
“Forcing job applicants to answer politically motivated questions comes straight from the Project 2025 playbook, which aims to replace dedicated, nonpartisan public servants with workers chosen for their political loyalty rather than their qualifications or their oath to uphold the Constitution,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
On Nov. 6, AFGE joined the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) in filing a lawsuit challenging the legality of the loyalty question.
In the lawsuit, the unions allege that the Office of Personnel Management has violated the First Amendment rights of applicants by conditioning employment on particular political viewpoints, compelling applicants to praise President Trump’s orders and policies, chilling the protected speech of other applicants who fear retaliation, and enabling and facilitating viewpoint discrimination. The inclusion of the loyalty question also is arbitrary and capricious, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, and violates the Privacy Act because it collects unnecessary and irrelevant information about the exercise of applicants’ First Amendment rights, the lawsuit asserts.
By compelling federal workers to indicate how they are personally loyal to the president, the administration has reaffirmed its plan, set forth in Project 2025, to replace federal workers hired on the basis of merit with political loyalists. Allowing this plan to continue will undermine the competence and effectiveness of the civil service. The suit asks the court to prohibit OPM from enforcing or implementing the loyalty question and to protect the civil service and the American people from this partisan attack.
“This isn’t just illegal, it also harms our members and all Americans by depriving them of opportunities to serve their country and by undermining a skilled, nonpartisan workforce. We are proud to file this lawsuit to defend our members and the merit-based civil service, the cornerstone of our democracy,” Kelley said.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The unions are represented by Democracy Forward, Protect Democracy, and Keker, Van Nest and Peters LLP.
Click here for the latest updates on our legal challenges against the Trump administration.
Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has issued a series of unlawful executive orders, and taken several unlawful actions, seeking to shut down congressionally mandated agencies, fire and displace federal workers, outlaw their unions, and gut merit systems protections.
Read More
A federal judge has ordered the Department of Veterans Affairs to reinstate the union contract covering 320,000 VA employees represented by AFGE in a major victory over the implementation of President Trump’s union-busting executive orders.
Read More
As the Department of Homeland Security shutdown reaches the one-month mark with no end in sight, AFGE leaders are calling on Congress to ensure all DHS workers are paid.
Read More
