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.

Democracy Forward President & CEO, Skye Perryman, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s ongoing effort to undermine the civil service–including the summary attempt to place members of the civil service on administrative leave–and attacks on ensuring the government reflects and delivers for all of the American people:

Rob Shriver and Kyleigh Russ join Democracy Forward to lead civil service defense and protection efforts in the wake of devastating Trump-Vance administration Day 1 actions