Judge says Education Dept. partisan out-of-office emails violated First Amendment

Judge says Education Dept. partisan out-of-office emails violated First Amendment

Cory Turner

November 08, 2025 / 10:21 am

A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the First Amendment rights of Education Department employees when it replaced their personalized out-of-office e-mail notifications with partisan language blaming Democrats for the government shutdown.

"When government employees enter public service, they do not sign away their First Amendment rights," U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his decision on Friday, "and they certainly do not sign up to be a billboard for any given administration's partisan views."

The lawsuit was brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

"This ridiculous ploy by the Trump administrat