Hats off to the JustSecurity Blog, where its editors have created a litigation tracker covering all current cases filed against the Trump Administration, complete with docket links. It’s a wonderful resources, so thanks to all who contributed!
For our purposes, the important cases are those relating to the treatment of federal employees. Just Security provides short summaries of those cases. Here, we add just a quick summary of the legal issues in the cases. Links are to the complaints in each action
In National Treasury Employees Union v. Donald J. Trump et al., the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), a labor union representing employees in 37 federal agencies and departments in grievances and litigation and in negotiating collective bargaining agreements, filed suit in the D.C. District Court. NTEU challenges a January 20, 2025 Executive Order, which the complaint characterizes as depriving federal employees of civil service and due process protections, permitting the President to fire them at will. NTEU contends that the Executive Order exceeds executive authority and frustrates congressional intent. Congress granted the President limited authority to prescribe rule for federal workers, but only as necessary and as conditions of good administration warrant. Because the Executive Order was neither necessary nor in service of good administration, it was ultra vires. The Executive Order is also impermissibly overbroad in that it applies to career employees not subject to regulation by the President. It also deprives federal authorities of their procedural due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The procedures authorized under the Executive Order are inconsistent with the regulations that govern the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). NTEU seeks an order enjoining the President and other named defendants from implementing the Executive Order.
In Government Accountability Project v. Office of Personnel Management, the Government Accountability Project (GAP), along with the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, sued in the D.C. District Court to enjoin the same Executive Order at issue in the NTEU case, designed to strip career civil servants of employment protections created by Congress. OPM Director Charles Ezell, a named defendant in this and the NTEU case, issued a Guidance that reclassifies federal employees so that they can be terminated at will. This complaint is written with more flair, providing choice hyperbolic quotes from administration officials in which they characterize federal employees as a cancer and calling for mass dismissals. The complaint characterizes the Executive Order as reversing 150 years of progress against the spoils system and returning the United States to an era when all civil servants were hired based on political patronage and personal loyalty. The complaint provides a history of civil service regulation going back to the 1883 Pendleton Act. It alleges that the Executive Order and OPM Guidance violate the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), The Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), and the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process protections. The OPM Guidance violates the APA because they were not promulgated in compliance with “notice and comment” requirements. The Executive Order is invalid because it is inconsistent with Congressional enactments protecting civil servants. The court has equitable powers, the complaint alleges, to enjoin unlawful executive actions. The plaintiffs seek declaratory judgment and ask the court to vacate the Executive Order and OPM Guidance.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility v. Donald Trump et al. was filed in the District Court of Maryland. This one is brought by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), working with Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The basis for the complaint is the same as in the first two cases discussed above. The complaint here provides an even deeper dive into the civil service reform movement to combat the spoils system, from the 1883 Pendleton Act through the 1978 CSRA. The Complaint then details regulations that implement those reforms in the service of a simple goal: career civil servants are to be selected on the basis of merit and are not removed simply on account of their political views or those of the president. It then reviews the history of Donald Trump’s attempts to gut the civil service, going back to a 2020 Executive Order that was never implemented and citing his repeated statements that he would destroy what he calls the “deep state.” There follow specific allegations of how the new Executive Order harms PEER and impedes its work. The complaint alleges three counts of ultra vires executive actions in violation of the CSRA, regulations of the OPM, and procedural due process, and one violation of the APA. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.
Finally (for this post), in American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO and American Federation of State, County And Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO v. Donald Trump et al., plaintiff, The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (“AFGE”), is the largest representing federal employees. It has been in existence since 1932 and now has about 800,000 members. This complaint is shorter, but it adds new details on the history of Donald Trump’s efforts, beginning with his 2020 Executive Order to reclassify federal employees under “Schedule F,” empowering him to fire them at will. Count 1 names OPM and Ezell and alleges violations of the APA. Count 2 alleges ultra vires actions by all defendants in violation of the APA’s notice and comment requirements. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.
With the help of Just Security’s litigation tracker, we hope to post periodic updates on these suits and to provide summaries of others that are relevant to the government’s contractual relations with federal employees. Watch this space.
