Overview

• The American Federation of Government Employees filed the lawsuit Friday in D.C. federal court, naming the Education Department and Secretary Linda McMahon and seeking an injunction.
• Furloughed employees reported their out-of-office replies were changed without consent to blame Democratic senators for the funding lapse, with some edits later reverted back to the partisan text.
• Screenshots show messages citing H.R. 5371 and stating Democratic senators blocked its passage, while the union argues this constitutes compelled political speech in violation of the First Amendment.
• A department communications official defended the wording as factual, previously saying the emails explain that Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a clean continuing resolution.
• Ethics experts say the messaging could violate the Hatch Act, a House Democrat requested an Office of Special Counsel probe, and the union cites similar partisan notices across HUD, VA, SBA, Treasury, Justice, Agriculture, State and HHS.