Hi Interested Public,

Okay. We’ve got some catching up to do. This digest covers the last week of October and the first week of November. I’ll be releasing another one tomorrow at the regular time to cover this week. The news below primarily concerns the new final rule from the Department of Education giving them the authority to disqualify PSLF payments from borrowers employed with public service organizations with a “substantial illegal purpose” (read all about that in Student Loans, below). In tomorrow’s digest, I’ll look at news from this week–including stories analyzing the Continuing Resolution ending the federal shutdown, which included a number of provisions related to federal employee compensation and reductions in force. (So, you won’t find that story below; check in again tomorrow.)

Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

• Federal Grantees May Soon Face More Limitations on Speech (Law360; 28 Oct 2025)“In many cases, grantees have alleged that the government’s actions violated their right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Recipients should be aware that, in its responses to these allegations, the government has recently asserted that grant recipients have narrower speech rights than those it acknowledged just a few years ago in similar litigation.”
  • Federal Grant Recipients Take Note—The Government May Be Attempting to Narrow Your Organization’s First Amendment Free Speech Rights by Deeming You a “Contractor” (Venable; 3 Oct 2025)

Federal Restructuring

• Hegseth fired the Air Force’s top lawyer. The JAG who took on the job is stepping away. (Government Executive; 24 Oct 2025)“It’s been eight months since the service had a Senate-confirmed leader in the role.”
• Federal Whistleblowers Sound an Alarm Over Civil Rights at HUD (The Nation; 31 Oct 2025)“[F]our attorneys and staff workers at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, went public with an emergency complaint…Civil rights enforcement at HUD and throughout the federal government is being dismantled…When you come to us with a complaint, it might not even get investigated because of the staffing cuts or because political appointees say that, “We don’t want to look into that type of case anymore. That’s DEI now. We’re just not going to do that.”

• DOJ hires immigration judges after months of layoffs (NPR; 24 Oct 2025)
• ‘It’s more important than ever’: Federal employee awards program endures in time of civil service job cuts (Government Executive; 30 Oct 2025)
• Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Los Angeles disqualified by judge, but likely to remain in role (AP; 28 Oct 2025)
• The ‘deeply inefficient’ legal path to fight Trump funding cuts (Politico; 28 Oct 2025)“in a departure from their usual procedures, the states also filed suit in a specialized court in the nation’s capital — one that the Supreme Court has suggested in short emergency orders is better equipped to decide disputes over terminated grants.”
• Third Trump Term Raised by DOJ, Opposing Lawyer at Argument (Bloomberg Law; 27 Oct 2025)“Attorney Robert J. Olson first told the three judges on the Cincinnati-based court that a new administration will be in place “in three years or in seven years.” Then, when DOJ attorney Sean R. Janda argued, he repeated a variation of that line, talking about a change that may occur, “as my friend on the other side said, three years in the future or seven years in the future.” None of the judges pressed either attorney on those statements. A DOJ spokeswoman declined to comment. Olson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.”

• DOE beefs up legal staffing (Politico; 27 Oct 2025)
• Interior misuses ‘acting’ titles, nonprofit watchdog says (E&E News [Politico]; 31 Oct 2025)“The Interior Department failed to follow federal law by letting senior officials who lack Senate confirmation serve in “acting” roles, according to a nonprofit watchdog group. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is planning to send a letter Friday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, accusing four senior Trump administration officials of serving with improper titles.”

Federal Shutdown

• A federal judge just indefinitely barred the Trump administration from firing federal employees during the government shutdown (Fortune; 28 Oct 2025)
• Government Shutdown ‘Incredibly Disruptive’ to Law School Externships (Law.com; 31 Oct 2025)

Non-Federal Governmental Issues

• Feds demand Portland turn over protest data, say city is violating key use-of-force agreement (The Oregonian; 30 Oct 2025)“The U.S. Department of Justice is prodding Portland to turn over more protest records — by leveraging the decade-old settlement agreement between federal officials and the Portland Police Bureau…The federal government’s missive is the latest in their pledge to launch a “full investigation” into the Portland Police Bureau, which it claims engages in “viewpoint discrimination” by supporting left-wing protesters at the expense of counterprotesters and right-wing media.”
• Hawaii nonprofits seek $150M to blunt Trump spending cuts (Hawaii News Now; 31 Oct 2025)

Civil Society

• How Charlotte’s legal advocates are weathering a funding storm, with Larissa Mañón Mervin (The Charlotte Ledger; 25 Oct 2025)
• Doing good motivates aspiring lawyers, new LSAC study finds (ABA Journal; 29 Oct 2025)“Aspiring law students are increasingly motivated by the opportunity to make their mark on the world, but more anticipate financial hurdles to do so, according to a study released Tuesday by the Law School Admission Council.” [study available here]

• EDUCAUSE ’25: Federal Policies Spell Big Change for Higher Ed (Govtech; 30 Oct 2025)
• Trump’s UCLA Demand: $1.2B Fine and Limits on Trans, Foreign Student Freedoms (Inside Higher Ed; 27 Oct 2025)
• What to Do When the President Calls You ‘Corrupt’ (Chronicle of Philanthrophy; 28 Oct 2025)
• Current and future law students discuss the accessibility of a law degree (The State Press; 29 Oct 2025)
• Wake Up Call: Big Law Backs Off From Challenging Trump Policies (Bloomberg Law; 28 Oct 2025)
• Why strong nonprofit boards matter now more than ever (News from the States; 26 Oct 2025)

Student Debt & Other Student Concerns

• U.S. Department of Education Announces Final Rule on Public Service Loan Forgiveness to Protect American Taxpayers (US Dept of Ed; 30 Oct 2025)
• Trump officially limits a major student-loan forgiveness program, blocking relief for some public servants (Business Insider; 30 Oct 2025)
  • Trump’s Loan Forgiveness Regs and the Danger of Federally Defined “Public Good” (Cato Institute; 31 Oct 2025)“As unhelpful as the distinction between employment by nonprofit and for-profit entities is, it is probably not as dangerous as deciding who serves the public good and who subverts it. And the Trump order is very much about subversion.”
  • STATEMENT: New Rule Will Weaponize Public Service Loan Forgiveness, CAP Says (Center for American Progress; 30 Oct 2025)
  • New Trump Admin Rule Violates Statute Establishing Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (Public Citizen; 30 Oct 2025)
• Two Legal Challenges Filed Over Trump’s Efforts to Restrict PSLF (Student Loan Planner; 4 Nov 2025)
  • Lawsuit Challenges the Department of Education Over New Public Service Loan Forgiveness Rule (American Immigration Council; 5 Nov 2025) [complaint available here]“Four non-profit public-interest organizations filed a lawsuit today to challenge a new rule issued by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) that threatens to disqualify certain employers from eligibility for the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The plaintiffs in the case — Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the American Immigration Council, The Door – A Center of Alternatives, Inc., and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) — are represented by Student Defense and Public Citizen Litigation Group.”
  • Attorney General James Sues U.S. Department of Education Over Weaponization of Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (New York State AG; 3 Nov 2025) [complaint available here]“132. [T]he Department intends to require all PSLF employers to affirmatively certify that they are not engaged in activities that have a ‘substantial illegal purpose’. The Rule does not affirmatively state this requirement anywhere, but the Department confirms in the NPRM and in discussion of the Final Rule that it will require employer certification. … 151. The Department also estimates that the Final Rule will generate ‘long-term savings…for taxpayers’ in the form of ‘$1.616 billion over the next ten years.’ Or, put another way, the Department estimates that it will withhold over a billion dollars of PSLF forgiveness over the next decade by declaring entities ineligible for PSLF.”
• Republican who oversaw student debt launches class action effort against Trump administration (CNBC; 31 Oct 2025)“A Republican who oversaw the country’s $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio during President Donald Trump’s first term has funded a class action effort against the administration over its current borrower policies. The proposed class action lawsuit, filed this week in federal court in Atlanta, said Education Secretary Linda McMahon and the largest credit rating companies are violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act — a federal law that, among other provisions, requires information in consumer credit reports to be accurate.”
• Opinion: How Student Loans and Inflation Are Reshaping Credit Risk (CardRates.com; 31 Oct 2025)“Despite the early warnings that student loan payments were really being reinstated, the many delays and false starts created a period of denial for borrowers. Now that student loan payments have resumed, and are counted in credit scores, reality has set in with a vengeance. Younger borrowers are a particularly risky segment in this environment: They have thinner credit reports, and more student debt. Many live in higher cost areas and face even sharper rising costs of living that compete for their dollars when it comes to paying their credit card bills.”
• Millions of borrowers will be eligible for student loan forgiveness after AFT union sues Trump administration (Fast Company; 30 Oct 2025)“The Trump administration has agreed to resume student loan forgiveness for an estimated 2.5 million borrowers who are enrolled in certain federal repayment plans following a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers. Under the agreement reached Friday between the teachers union and the administration, the Education Department will process loan forgiveness for those eligible in certain repayment plans that offer lower monthly payments based on a borrower’s earnings. The government had stopped providing forgiveness under those plans based on its interpretation of a different court decision.”
• MD Lawmakers Move To Pause Student Loan Payments Amid Shutdown (Patch; 29 Oct 2025)“The Shutdown Student Loans for Feds Act was introduced on Wednesday by Democratic lawmakers from several states, including MD.”

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

• This LA public defender’s office is dedicated to clients with cognitive disabilities (NPR; 1 Nov 2025)
• ‘Real-life science experiment’ fills critical legal gaps in rural SD (South Dakota News Watch; 31 Oct 2025)
• Maryland Legal Aid to provide free criminal record expungement, resume clinics (Baltimore Sun; 30 Oct 2025)
• [Alberta] Legal Aid workers to vote on mediated agreement (Alberta Worker; 31 Oct 2025)
• LA extends funding for tenant legal aid, rent relief (Boyle Heights Beat; 28 Oct 2025)
• ‘Catastrophic’ Hack Underscores Public Defender Security Gaps (Bloomberg; 28 Oct 2025)“Recent cyberattacks on public defenders’ offices in multiple Western US states have spotlighted the technological vulnerabilities of an often overlooked but critical part of the US judicial system.”
• Eviction aid for low-income Milwaukee residents may disappear under 2026 budget cuts (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; 31 Oct 2025)“Eviction Free MKE, which is also known as Right to Counsel and is run through Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, is facing a tenuous future. The program has faced uncertain funding in recent years as remaining federal pandemic aid runs dry.”

• Increased caseload leads to public defenders shortage in San Francisco, officials said (NBC Bay Area; 30 Oct 2025)
• San Francisco Public Defender Blames DA for Caseload Crisis, Citing Overcharging and Funding Disparities (Davis Vanguard; 27 Oct 2025)