Trump’s plan to fire government workers is illegal

President Trump’s executive order paving the way to convert potentially tens of thousands of merit-based civil servants to at-will employees, enabling political appointees to fire and replace them with loyalists, is unlawful and exceeds the president’s authority, according to a lawsuit filed today in Maryland federal court by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER is represented in the suit by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy Forward.

“Donald Trump’s executive order reverses course on 140 years of civil service reform meant to ensure federal employees have the required skills and expertise to best serve the American people and protect the civil service from dangerous nepotism and cronyism,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “With one of his first acts in office, Donald Trump put the country on a path toward getting rid of merit-based hiring and staffing crucial government functions with unqualified loyalists.”

Trump’s order, nearly identical to his previous Schedule F executive order in 2020, would lay the groundwork to convert a huge percentage of the federal civil service from employees who can only be fired for cause to at-will employees who can be fired for any reason at all. Thousands of employees—including those who protect our public health, the environment and our food and water—who were hired for their expertise and serve in non-partisan positions could be stripped of vested job protections in one fell swoop, in violation of their due process rights and in excess of the president’s constitutional authority.

“The American people rely on non-partisan and professional civil servants to serve the public. There are 2.2 million civil servants that work in every community across our country to, among other things, make sure that our communities and our nation are protected, our food and medicine are safe, our air and water are clean, and our children have access to education.

“The Administration’s efforts, outlined in Project 2025, to decimate the ability of our government to do work for the people will harm everyday Americans. We are challenging these actions in court,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward.

For more than 30 years, PEER has provided pro bono legal services and other support to scientists, public health professionals and other civil servants who seek to uphold high standards of scientific integrity within their agencies, including by defending whistleblowers and shining a light on illegal government actions.  The renewed Schedule F order has already directly impacted PEER’s clients and PEER’s ability to fulfill its mission.

“This profoundly troubling move advances efforts by the administration to politicize policymaking by removing scientists and experts and inserting, instead, those who will follow the wishes of political leaders,” said Tim Whitehouse, PEER Executive Director. “It would allow political leaders to reach deep into federal agencies to remove and replace unknown and unheralded civil servants whose work is critical to keeping our country safe but whose viewpoints may run afoul of the prevailing political narrative of the day.”

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