Federal Employees Union Challenges Trump Schedule F Order
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Jan. 21, 2025, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) filed a complaint challenging the new Trump administration’s Executive Order “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” in the D.C. District Court. The order reinstates a previous executive order, issued during the first Trump administration, creating Schedule F of the excepted civil service.
NTEU challenges the order on several grounds. First, it claims that the order exceeds statutory authority, arguing that Congress limited the president’s general authority to establish rules governing federal employees in the competitive service by requiring that “conditions of good administration” warrant excepting certain positions from the competitive service. Second, it claims that the order unlawfully purports to apply to career officials in contravention of the relevant statutory definition, which would allow such action only with respect to political appointees. Third, it argues that the order violates certain federal employees’ “accrued due process rights.” Finally, it argues that the order violates the Administrative Procedure Act by effectively rescinding existing Office of Personnel and Management regulations.
NTEU seeks declaratory judgment, attorneys’ fees, an injunction preventing President Trump from implementing or enforcing the order, and an injunction prohibiting other federal officials from complying with it. In support of its request for injunctive relief, NTEU articulates the following harm: as an organization that represents “thousands of federal employees who perform work relating to policy,” the Executive Order requires it to “spend time and resources to counteract [its] effects,” including by working with Congress on potential legislation and conducting fact-intensive evaluations of how to best protect its members.
Read the complaint here or below:
