'conscripted as political mouthpieces against their will'

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On Friday, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop the Trump regime from violating the free speech rights of federal workers.

This is our 19th lawsuit against the administration since Trump returned to power.

Public Citizen and Democracy Forward are representing the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) — the country’s largest federal worker union — in this lawsuit.

Here’s more about the case:

• As a result of a government shutdown brought about by Donald Trump and congressional Republicans, hundreds of thousands of government employees are currently not working.

• Naturally, many of these workers set up an “out-of-office” auto-reply email before being furloughed. (We’re guessing just about everyone reading this has received an “out-of-office” email or two, or thousand, over the years.)

• But at Trump’s Department of Education — which, remember, is being run by the billionaire former professional wrestling magnate and MAGA extremist Linda McMahon — employees’ “out-of-office” replies were replaced with a partisan message blaming Democrats for the shutdown.

• The change was made without consent from the employees and without notice that partisan messages were being sent in their names. In essence, these workers are being forced to make a political statement, whether they agree with it or not.

The government putting words in your mouth that you don’t want to speak violates the First Amendment.

As Cormac Early, the lead Public Citizen lawyer on the case, told the national media: “It is profoundly offensive for the government to commandeer federal employees’ voices for partisan purposes. Government workers have a First Amendment right not to be conscripted as political mouthpieces against their will.”

Inserting partisan messaging into employees’ work emails would also appear to be a blatant violation of a law called the Hatch Act, which makes it illegal for government workers to use government resources to espouse political viewpoints. The regime is doing something similar by posting messages on numerous agency websites blaming the shutdown on Democrats. Public Citizen has filed 11 complaints (so far) with federal officials over these violations of the Hatch Act.

The Trump regime’s egregious violations of federal workers’ free speech rights and the Hatch Act are getting widespread media coverage — from ABC, CNN, Fox News, The Guardian, The Independent, NBC, The New York Times, NPR, Politico, USA Today, Wired, and many, many others.

MORE ABOUT TAKING THE TRUMP REGIME TO COURT

The Trump administration is unilaterally, unconstitutionally, and unlawfully dismantling the federal government — our government — from Cabinet-level departments that have their own stately buildings here in Washington, D.C., to smaller agencies that go largely unnoticed as they do the routine, unheralded work that makes for a functioning country.

Public Citizen is doing everything we can — within our modest means — to fight back at every turn. It’s David and Goliath for sure, but we will never back down. Even where we haven’t (yet) notched definitive victories in court, we are slowing down the regime and making it work a lot harder in pursuit of its desire for absolute power.

This “out-of-office” email case is just one of the 19 lawsuits we have filed (so far) against the administration since Trump returned to power. Are these lawsuits alone enough to fully defeat Trump and MAGA? Of course not. But are they a meaningful part of the pushback needed to collectively save our country? No doubt about it.

What you and Public Citizen are doing together matters. What hundreds of other organizations, big and small, are doing matters. What millions upon millions of our fellow Americans are doing matters. We believe that to our core. We take solace in that. And we draw inspiration from that. We hope you do, too.

If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen’s work standing up to the Trump regime.

Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help at such a critical moment.

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Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after day.

If you’ve donated to Public Citizen already, thank you. If a donation is not right, we understand. Either way, thank you for being part of Public Citizen.

For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 

Public Citizen | 1600 20th Street NW | Washington DC 20009 

“750 People are packed in here”

 

CONGRESSMAN JIM MCGOVERN HAS BEEN AN OUTSPOKEN CRITIC IN THE 

HOUSE - WE  PROUDLY SUPPORT HIM & HOPE YOU WILL AS WELL!

Since Trump took office, my Republican colleagues have been hiding from their constituents. This month, they took it to a new level: The chair of the NRCC, the House Republican's campaign arm, told their members to stop holding in-person town halls to avoid the angry backlash over funding cuts, DOGE, and other initiatives by the Trump administration. That's wrong on so many levels,  I don't even want to get into it. Instead, I go on with it — holding a town hall in Greenfield where I made a commitment to a packed auditorium: I will continue to host meetings and be a leader for the American people. But I cannot do that without your support. Typically, we can slow down campaign operations at this point in an election cycle — but unfortunately, we need to be in overdrive to combat the Trump administration and stand up for our democracy. As I told WWLP 22 News, it's not an exaggeration to say that our democracy is in peril right now. Hosting a town hall — even one that brings together more than 750 people — shouldn't make headlines. To me, this is the bare minimum: the people impacted by the decisions of elected leaders deserve to be heard — and the lawmakers should be grateful that people are taking time out of their days to provide feedback on their decisions. Help us ensure that every voice is heard and that the policies they're rolling out do not destroy our democracy by chipping in $16 today toward our next event. Looking at these headlines with my team, I am reminded that this is what democracy looks like, and I'm proud that I represent people who care deeply about this country enough to be involved and push back on policies they deplore. More soon, Jim P.S. A final note to my GOP colleagues in Congress: if you're ashamed of a decision that was made by your party — you can start to make it right by standing up against that decision. Your constituents deserve real leadership, and they'll either get that from you or the person who takes your seat next November. Your choice. Express Donate: If you've stored your info with ActBlue Express, we'll process your contribution to Jim McGovern instantly:   $5 $15 $25 $50

Paid for and authorized by the Re-Elect McGovern Committee.     This email was sent by Jim McGovern Jim McGovern for Congress PO Box 60405 Worcester, MA 01606 United States