Overview

• The American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C., alleging First Amendment violations after Education Department staff discovered partisan edits to their out-of-office emails.
• The complaint, brought with Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group, says workers’ messages were rewritten in the first person to fault Senate Democrats for the shutdown.
• An Education Department communications official, Madi Biedermann, defended the email language, saying it reflected Democrats’ refusal to pass a clean continuing resolution.
• Multiple outlets report the Office of Management and Budget circulated templates encouraging similar phrasing, and several agencies displayed website notices assigning blame to Democrats.
• Employees said they feared changing the messages could violate furlough rules, as watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers filed Hatch Act complaints and requested Office of Special Counsel review.