A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from forcing federal workers to set their email auto-replies to messages blaming Democrats in Congress for the government shutdown.
From the outset of the shutdown weeks ago, multiple executive branch departments have directed employees who are out of the office due to the shutdown to put partisan political messages in their automatic responses.
For example, the Department of Health and Human Services ordered workers to set their auto-reply to, “Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democratic senators are blocking its passage in the Senate, which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to this lapse, I am currently in furlough status and unable to respond to emails. I will reply once government operations resume.”
The American Federation of Government Employees sued, arguing orders of this sort violate the First Amendment by compelling government employees to make a partisan political statement they may not agree with.
On Friday, Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, agreed.
"Nonpartisanship is the bedrock of the federal civil service; it ensures that career government employees serve the public, not the politicians," wrote Cooper. "But by commandeering its employees’ e-mail accounts to broadcast partisan messages, the Department chisels away at that foundation. 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 First Amendment stands in their way. The Department’s conduct therefore must cease."
This comes as the shutdown continues to drag on without an obvious end in sight. Senate Democrats put forward an offer to reopen the government contingent on a one-year extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies and a bipartisan commission for longer-term health care reform, but GOP lawmakers immediately rejected this.
