Education Department's out-of-office messages blaming Democrats for the shutdown are unconstitutional, judge rules

Main Idea: A federal judge ruled that the Education Department broke employees’ First Amendment rights by using their out-of-office emails to send partisan blame over the government shutdown.

Key Points:

• Judge Christopher Cooper said the altered messages were the government “commandeering” employees’ email accounts to push a political message.
• The ruling came after a lawsuit by the American Federation of Government Employees over changes made without workers’ consent.
• The order applies to union members at the Education Department, with broader removal allowed if separate removal is not technically possible.
• The disputed emails blamed “Democrat Senators” for blocking a funding bill, and the department kept using similar language in its own auto-reply message.