Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Hi Interested Public,

Welcome to the end of another week. Lots to wrap up in the stories below, from news over the first weeks of December. I’ll cover the second half of the month Friday after next, and be back on a regular schedule in the new year.

Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• DOJ says lower court ruling would ‘wreak havoc’ on the civil service absent Supreme Court intervention (Government Executive; 5 Dec 2025)

  “The Trump administration on Friday requested the Supreme Court block a review of whether the president has rendered key civil service laws as no longer functional, arguing a lower panel of judges that required the inquiry had overstepped its authority. The looming review followed a lawsuit from immigration judges within the Justice Department, but the administration’s top lawyer said they must take their case to a separate, executive branch appeals panel rather than federal court. Any steps Trump may have taken to undermine that pathway, he argued, is not material to the case. Chief Justice John Roberts acted quickly on Friday to pause an appeals court ruling that would have required the fact-finding inquiry into the impacts of Trump’s changes to civil service policies.”

• A SCOTUS Bench Memo for Trump v. Slaughter, the FTC Removal Case: Stare Decisis, Historical Practice, and Original Intent (Just Security; 4 Dec 2025)

  “Briefs addressing these questions have now been filed by the parties and by 51 amici curiae: 16 in support of the Administration, 32 in support of Commissioner Slaughter, and 3 for neither party. Ahead of the Court’s oral argument on December 8, 2025, this “bench memorandum” provides a concise reader’s guide to the main arguments of the parties and the amici.”

• Feds Defend Pro-Trump Policy Question On Job Applications (Law360; 4 Dec 2025)

Federal Restructuring

• 200 DOJ employees who left under Trump say admin is making ‘coordinated effort’ to undermine career staff (Government Executive; 9 Dec 2025)

• Education Department civil rights staff returning to work to tackle complaint backlog (Government Executive; 8 Dec 2025)

• Trump is using $70K bonuses for a hiring surge at one agency. Democrats want to stop him (Government Executive; 8 Dec 2025)

  “A group of Senate Democrats is demanding the Trump administration cease its efforts to dramatically grow the Interior Department’s police force, calling the hiring surge a “dangerous” centralization of power.”

• Pentagon would have to explain future JAG firings under NDAA provision (Government Executive; 9 Dec 2025)

• House panel advances bills extending probationary periods to two years (Government Executive; 2 Dec 2025)

• Top Manhattan prosecutor vows to grow fraud team as Trump reshapes DOJ (Semafor; 4 Dec 2025)

• Justice Dept. Announces Policy Change to Eliminate ‘Disparate Impact’ Assessments (The Well; 11 Dec 2025)

• Trump Is Poised To Privatize Legal Aid For Migrant Children (The Lever; 4 Dec 2025)

• OPM says 92% of fed departures this year were voluntary. Those who left disagree (Government Executive; 10 Dec 2025)

• CFPB to issue mass furlough by year's end and transfer outstanding cases to DOJ (Government Executive; 20 Nov 2025)

Federal Shutdown

• State becomes the latest agency to proceed with RIFs despite statutory pause (Government Executive; 2 Dec 2025)

  “The deal to end the shutdown placed a moratorium on any action to implement layoffs, but some agency are moving forward anyway.”

Civil Society

• FTC Backs Texas Bid to End ABA Control Over Law School Rules (Bloomberg Law; 2 Dec 2025)

• How Will Your Nonprofit Survive? (Stanford Social Innovation Review; Winter 2026)

• Gov. Greg Abbott urges Trump's treasury secretary to strip CAIR's nonprofit status (San Antonio Express-News; 2 Dec 2025)

• NYC nonprofits brace for more federal funding cuts after already scaling back programming (Gothamist; 1 Dec 2025)

• Jack Smith to Launch New Law Firm With Ex-Prosecutor Team (Bloomberg Law; 9 Dec 2025)

• Trump administration sued for records of law firm deals (Reuters; 11 Dec 2025)

• Protect Democracy Sues for Records on Reported Trump Administration Efforts to Investigate and Target Nonprofits (Protect Democracy; 24 Nov 2025)

• DOJ agrees not to restrict aid for domestic abuse and assault survivors based on immigration status (Boston Globe; 24 Nov 2025)

Student Debt & Other Student Concerns

• Millions of borrowers in Biden's SAVE plan would start paying under new settlement (NPR; 9 Dec 2025)

  “[The proposed] agreement, pending court approval, would end the long legal battle over SAVE by ending SAVE itself. The Education Department would commit not to enroll more borrowers in SAVE, to deny all pending SAVE applications and to move the roughly 7 million borrowers still enrolled in SAVE into other repayment plans – though some of those plans are also in flux.”

• Plan to break up the Education Department would strain other agencies, Democrats and students warn (Government Executive; 3 Dec 2025)

• Move to end SAVE plan for borrowers comes as California student loan delinquencies surge (CBS News; 11 Dec 2025)

• Trump’s Education Department transfers illegal, Senate Dems say (Government Executive; 4 Dec 2025)

• Why employers are the missing voice in the public service loan forgiveness debate (ABA Journal; 10 Dec 2025)

• States, unions sue Trump administration over loan forgiveness rule (Arizona; 10 Dec 2025)

• States Should Step Up on Graduate School Aid (Inside Higher Ed; 1 Dec 2025)

  “States can offer targeted grants and zero- or low-interest loans to keep grad school pathways open after the end of Grad PLUS.”

Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

• [Ed Note: I also refer readers out to NALP’s Weekly Industry News Digest, which has separate coverage of this topic]

Access to Justice

• Legal aid groups feel pinch of NC legislature freezing millions of dollars (Carolina Public Press; 5 Dec 2025)

  • Charlotte legal aid group sees surge in demand as Operation Charlotte's Web persists (WCNC; 3 Dec 2025)

• SC Legal Services are temporarily limiting new clients due to staffing challenges (News19; 2 Dec 2025)

• LA County Public Defender’s Office to Support Immigrants in Deportation Cases (Davis Vanguard; 5 Dec 2025)

• [San Francisco, CA] Public Defender Argues Lack of Capacity as Judge Considers Ordering More Felony Cases (Davis Vanguard; 10 Dec 2025)

• Texas Indigent Defense Commission approves investments in rural Texas, including Stephens County (Breckeridge Texan; 9 Dec 2025)

• [East Baton Rouge, LA] Public defender’s office urges Metro Council to vote ‘no’ on budget cuts (WAFB 9; 8 Dec 2025)

  • Public defenders protest Baton Rouge [LA] mayor’s cuts ahead of key council budget vote (The Advocate; 8 Dec 2025)

• Without legal help, fewer Reading[, PA] tenants prevail in eviction cases (PHL 17; 9 Dec 2025)

• [Brooklyn] Immigration judge withdraws from public defender leadership role amid staff backlash (Queens Daily Eagle; 8 Dec 2025)

• Letter: Right to Counsel program would keep Springfield [MO] tenants from being wrongfully uprooted (Springfield Daily Citizen; 8 Dec 2025)

• [Berrien ] County[, MI] pumps brakes on pay increases for public defenders (WSJM; 5 Dec 2025)

• ICE activity in MN sheds light on strain felt by legal aid groups (KFGO; 8 Dec 2025)

• Immigration Lawyers Battle Burnout Amid Deportation Surge (Law360; 5 Dec 2025)

• Penn Carey Law launches Justice Lab clinic for social justice, legal reform (The Daily Pennsylvanian; 3 Dec 2025)

• DA calls for scrutiny of public defender agency as Mass. court crisis drags on (WCVB; 3 Dec 2025)

• Maryland Public Defender’s office seeks more help (Maryland Matters; 1 Dec 2025)

• [MA] Attorney general, public defender dissolve historic ‘equitable justice’ collaborative (News from the States; 1 Dec 2025)

  “Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) and Public Defender Natasha Dartigue announced in a letter dated Wednesday that the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative has been dissolved, a little more than two years after its October 2023 launch. The collaborative — which included working with about three dozen groups that included state agencies, law enforcement personnel and nonprofit and community organizations — has fulfilled its original charge to deliver recommendations on ending mass incarceration, the letter said.”

• Public defenders and prosecutors warn of crisis fueled by Prop 36 (Daily Journal; 1 Dec 2025)

• [Steuben County, MI] Public Defender's Office up and running (The Herald Republican; 4 Dec 2025)

• UW-Madison revamps public defender training, after budget cuts (Wisconsin State Journal; 26 Nov 2025)

• New congressional effort tries to ensure seniors have access to legal services (The Orange County Register; 11 Dec 2025)

  “The idea, according to Tran’s office, is to ensure every state can offer 24/7 legal help with a hotline staffed by real people, rather than having seniors fill out a form and wait to hear back.”