Trump administration ordered to halt some Education Department emails that blame shutdown on Democrats

Miles J. Herszenhorn, Bloomberg News on Nov 7, 2025

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A federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Education to halt the practice of inserting partisan language into automated out-of-office emails from accounts of furloughed employees that blames the government shutdown on Democratic lawmakers.

Commandeering employee out-of-office messages to fault “Democratic Senators” for causing the shutdown — which began more than a month ago — infringed on the free-speech rights of the workers, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said late Friday in his written ruling.

“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 judge wrote. “The First Amendment stands in their way. The department’s conduct therefore must cease.”

The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents roughly 800,000 workers, sued the Education Department last month for changing the automated email messages. The union also cited similar language on other government agency websites.

Cooper said his ruling only applied to the union members at the department who were affected by the revised messages.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Everett Kelley, AFGE’s president, said in a press release that the “Trump-Vance administration’s use of official government resources to spread partisan messaging using employees’ email was an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment, and the court’s ruling makes clear that even this administration is not above the law.”

The shutdown began Oct. 1 after Congress failed to reach a budget deal before the end of the last fiscal year. Although Republicans control both chambers, they need support from at least a few Democrats to reach the 60 votes needed for a spending measure to clear the Senate. Democrats have been pushing to extend health insurance premium subsidies.

The case is American Federation of Government Employees v. U.S. Department of Education, 25-cv-3553, US District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).