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US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Department of Education violated employees’ First Amendment rights by rewriting furloughed workers’ out-of-office emails to blame Democrat Senators for the shutdown, deeming it compelled, partisan speech. In a rebuke to the Trump administration amid the longest shutdown in US history, he permanently barred officials from altering such messages for members of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 2,000 Education Department staff. Cooper said nonpartisanship is foundational to the civil service and that political leaders cannot turn rank-and-file employees into unwilling spokespeople.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.