Lawsuit Challenges Legality of “Loyalty Question” for Federal Job Candidates

A trio of unions representing federal employees have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of what they say is a “loyalty question” included in more than 1,700 federal job posts since the beginning of October.

Recently filed in a federal court in Boston, the suit claims that, in May 2025, the Trump administration and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) “undermined a century of bipartisan policy and Congressional mandate issuing a so-called ‘Merit Hiring Plan’ that threatens the nonpartisan, merit-based civil service.”

In the suit, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and National Association of Government Employees Inc. note that the administration’s Merit Hiring Plan mandates the inclusion of four open-ended essay questions in federal civil service job applications.

“While some of these questions relate to job performance—such as work ethic or efficiency—one question has nothing to do with ‘Merit,’” according to the unions’ claim. “It instead elicits the political views of applicants and political agreement with the current President.”

The “loyalty question” to which the lawsuit refers asks the following:

How would you help advance the President’s Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role? Identify one or two relevant Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.

As Reuters recently reported, OPM Director Scott Kupor described the essay questions that OPM recommended agencies use as “optional,” and said it had been “clear that hiring decisions cannot consider political or ideological beliefs.”

The plaintiffs, however, maintain that the Merit Hiring Plan and the inclusion of the “loyalty question” on federal job applications is designed to “identify applicants whose political views align with this President’s Executive Orders and policy initiatives.”

In a recent statement, AFGE National President Everett Kelley said that “forcing job applicants to answer politically motivated questions comes straight from the Project 2025 playbook, which aims to replace dedicated, nonpartisan public servants with workers chosen for their political loyalty rather than their qualifications or their oath to uphold the Constitution.

“This isn’t just illegal, it also harms our members and all Americans by depriving them of opportunities to serve their country and by undermining a skilled, nonpartisan workforce,” Kelley continued. “We are proud to file this lawsuit to defend our members and the merit-based civil service, the cornerstone of our democracy.”