Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Welcome to the week’s end. Several major stories laid out for you below as editor’s choices. In other news, an appeals court has allowed President Trump’s anti-union effort within the civil service to proceed, while another court considers his plan to liquidate the CFPB. At a meeting of AILA in Oklahoma, attorneys shared that ICE is courting their labor with generous compensation packages, while Democrats in several states are proposing rules that would restrict ICE employees’ future ability to work in civil service at the state level. A possible strike is brewing among court clerks in San Francisco that could affect judicial operations there, while defense counsel in Massachusetts warn that prosecutors’ efforts to re-introduce cases previously dropped during that state’s work stoppage could re-ignite their crisis. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“For the first time since President Donald Trump took office in 2025, legal experts said, one of his Justice Department lawyers was found in contempt of court. And the chief judge has threatened even harsher sanctions.
It’s an extraordinary moment during a crisis that has engulfed the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, one that exposed how an exodus of legal talent has left the office in tatters, unable to comply with even its most basic responsibilities.”
“The reason for the refunds is related to student loan forgiveness. Thousands of borrowers who recently were notified that they qualify for a discharge under income-driven repayment, or IDR, plans may be reimbursed for excess payments they made after they reached their eligibility threshold for a discharge. And because many of these borrowers may have continued making monthly payments on their student loans long after becoming eligible for a discharge (without even realizing it), a sizable portion of these borrowers may be due for big refund checks.”
“The condition of federal courthouses around the country is in a deepening state of crisis, compelling the Judiciary to ask Congress (PDF) for authority to directly manage properties that are essential to carrying out its constitutional mission.”
“The annual meeting of local members of the American Immigration Lawyers Association with a liaison from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement usually serves as a space to voice concerns and ask questions about new policy. But this meeting took a turn as multiple Oklahoma City attorneys say they were pitched to work for ICE, complete with discussions of incentives that included handsome signing bonuses and student debt repayment.”
“The 46-year-old department signed seven other interagency agreements in 2025 as part of an ongoing effort to dismantle itself, including with State and HHS, as well as Labor and Interior.” [other agreements here]
“The lone Democratic appointee on a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel suggested that he and his colleagues may reach a different conclusion with the benefit of a “fully developed factual record.””
“Parent borrowers taking out loans for students through the federal direct PLUS program will soon be locked out of more affordable repayment plans. They'll also face tighter loan caps that could leave some scrambling for funds to pay for the final college years. Student loan experts say these changes could lead to a rise in parent defaults as well as some challenging fourth-year borrowing situations.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“Nonlawyers who receive training will now be able to help with civil matters in D.C., as part of a new order issued by D.C. Courts earlier this month that expands access to legal assistance for people without an attorney.”
“Despite bar associations and legal organizations across the state urging the governor to expand a public fund for civil legal services, the governor made no changes to the budget item in the slate of amendments to her proposed financial plan released last week.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
It’ll be a two-digest week as I catch up from last week. A few eye-catching stories are in “Editor’s choices,” below. In other news, the federal executive is terminating union contracts, multiple states are struggling with shortages of prosecutors and public defenders, and the ABA is weighing the repeal of its diversity standard. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“Her criticism was presented in an order dismissing her contempt finding against military lawyer Matthew Isihara earlier this week over the U.S. government’s failure to return identification documents to an immigrant she previously ordered released.”
“A preliminary list of at-risk schools compiled by the Army for troops enrolling in law school and reviewed by CNN characterizes the following schools as being at “moderate to high risk” of being banned…”
“A Bexar County district judge on Friday ruled that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton does not have the legal authority to sue Bexar County over its immigration legal services fund, blocking the state’s attempt to halt county funding for the initiative.”
“The director of New York’s Office of Indigent Legal Services called on the state legislature to prevent the governor from taking over $120 million in funding from the office, and warned the funding sweep could have a dire impact on low-income New Yorkers’ ability to access free legal services.”
“A recent court update from the Department of Education reported an increase in the backlog of buyback processing. The filing said that 83,370 applications were pending as of December 31. Over the month of December, the department approved 1,690 buyback applications and received an additional 5,090.”
“The new program provides an opportunity to third-year (senior) law students. HB 1270 would extend the apprenticeship opportunity to existing graduates of the University of South Dakota’s Knudson School of Law.”
“A student-led coalition has gathered more than 2,600 signatures from law students, legal academics, and law student organizations across 109 law schools calling on Congress to pass the Federal Officer Accountability Act.”
“A federal judge on Feb. 12 ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to improve access to phones and lawyers for detainees at the Whipple Federal Building, while also barring the federal government from transferring detainees out of state during the first 72 hours of detention.”
“Criminal defendants must receive a court-appointed lawyer within a set time or their charges will be dismissed, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled last week.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Lots to cover this week as many of us batten down for the incoming storm. Students begin to respond to national headlines about federal immigration activity in Minnesota and elsewhere. The federal government continues its layoff drive at various agencies, while the new year gives some an opportunity to assess the effects of these efforts to-date. The Department of Education delayed its plans to garnish student debtors’ wages, and various communities look at new avenues for legal aid related to various immigration concerns. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) condemned the development as ‘the latest sign that President Trump is pushing nonpartisan career professionals out of the Department of Justice and replacing them with his sycophants.’ Walz’s statement referred to resignations of ‘at least six prosecutors.’”
“While the subpoenas did not cite a specific criminal statute, the inquiry as a whole was said to center on whether elected officials in Minnesota had conspired to impede the thousands of federal agents who have been in the state since last month looking for undocumented immigrants. But the investigation is likely to run up against stiff pushback for examining political speech and conduct that is traditionally protected by the First Amendment.” [emphasis added]
“U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) are calling on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to follow federal law and the Constitution by allowing people in detention to have access to legal counsel. Reports indicate that some of those detained, including at least one U.S. citizen, are being denied their constitutional right to access an attorney.”
“The president claimed without evidence that all federal workers forced out during his first year back were now in “better” jobs in factories making double or triple their government salary.”
“ University of Arkansas, Fayetteville law school students protested Tuesday what they contend is the university’s apparent capitulation to political pressure in rescinding an offer for Emily Suski to become dean of the law school…UA rescinded its offer less than a week after it announced Suski’s hiring, citing feedback from “key external stakeholders,” including Republican state lawmakers. ”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Welcome to a new year–and a return to our regular schedule.. Lots has happened since the last issue, including a number of major news stories regarding student loans. Also, a case in the 1st Circuit could upend IOLTA funds, the Vice President has announced a new attorney position that would report directly to the White House (not the DOJ, which recently fired its chief ethics official)…the list goes on. As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“In 1993, the First Circuit upheld an IOLTA program against a similar First Amendment challenge. That case relied on a 1977 Supreme Court decision that allowed public-sector unions to force employees to pay union dues even if they didn’t support the union. In 2018, however, the Supreme Court overruled its 1977 decision in a case known as Janus. So Wescott claims the First Circuit’s 1993 decision is no longer good law and should be discarded as well.
U.S. Circuit Judge Julie Rikelman agreed that the 1993 case “held that the interest belonged to no one. It wasn’t the client’s money. And that doesn’t hold up after Janus.” But the unspoken backdrop to the new case is that a ruling for the plaintiff could upend bar and legal aid programs across the country, which have relied on IOLTA funding since changes to federal banking law allowed the first such program in Florida in 1981.”
“The coalition of more than 100 organizations—including the Vera Institute of Justice, the New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Advocates Response Collaborative (Immigrant ARC), New York Civil Liberties Union, Neighbors Link, and Immigrant Children Advocates’ Relief Effort—highlighted the dramatic escalation in federal enforcement, record number of people in detention, and evisceration of due process rights. ”
“Upheaval at DOJ has led to more than 5,500 career employees leaving since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, according to estimates from Justice Connection, an organization supporting former and current employees. The administration is recruiting for the Civil Rights Division’s election integrity and anti-DEI focus, while seeking “deportation judges” to replace the dozens of judges fired in DOJ’s immigration courts in the past year. The Trump administration is also searching for more lawyers to fill in offices of loyalist US attorney picks, including three that have remained at offices after judges ruled they were unlawfully appointed.”
“The Trump administration’s new top voting rights lawyer is Eric Neff, a former L.A. County prosecutor who led a failed case against a voting software company that was the subject of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.”
“Trump last month signed off on a 1 percent increase in wages for all government employees in 2026 but tasked the Office of Personnel Management to determine which “certain Federal civilian law enforcement personnel” should receive a higher pay bump of almost 4 percent.”
“The "minibus" appropriations bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed on Thursday includes a lifeline $540 million allocated toward the nonprofit Legal Services Corp. — representing a reduction of $10 million, or 3.6%, compared to fiscal year 2025's budget — whose funding the White House previously suggested should be slashed.”
“The Supreme Court of Florida has rejected a proposal from the attorney general’s office to allow out-of-statelawyers to work in some state government roles, despite the support it got from the governor’s office and others[.]”
“Congress should offer people with educational debts the option of repaying the government through volunteer service in their communities by passing legislation that creates Volunteers for America…programs [like PSLF] have limited budgets and involve full-time employment in a much needed but limited range of jobs. These initiatives are not for everyone, nor could they accommodate every student borrower. What is needed by most student debtors is a way to pay down their obligations through community service while pursuing their chosen careers. The National Guard provides the model.”
“Ciresi’s legislation would establish a Low-Interest Student Loan Program that would provide affordable, fixed-rate loans to Pennsylvania students attending approved institutions of higher education. Borrowers would need to complete a personal finance course, ensuring they are equipped to manage debt responsibly while building long-term financial stability.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“Assistant Attorney General Paul Suitter argued that the state is covered by sovereign immunity, and can't be named in the lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Maine. Instead, he said, the correct defendants are state agencies like the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
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.
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“[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.”
“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.”
“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.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Welcome to the end of another week–and the end of the United States’ longest shutdown of the federal government. Welcome back, to all the federal workers who returned to work yesterday. The “Federal Shutdown” section below includes a number of stories picking apart what reporting indicates we can expect next. The “Editor’s Choices” section includes a number of additional, noteworthy stories. Additional stories, as always, are in the links below.
“The Justice Department has lost thousands of experienced attorneys since the start of the Trump administration and has backfilled a fraction of the open jobs, with the process snarled by a lack of qualified candidates, bureaucratic delays and hiring freezes, according to people familiar with hirings in the department.
…Employment law experts said they worry that some Trump officials are finding work-arounds in the hiring process to ensure that new hires for nonpolitical career positions align with the president’s politics. When prospective Justice Department employees apply for a job, for example, they are asked to detail a Trump executive order or policy that is significant to them and how they would advance that initiative. The question is also asked of people applying to other executive branch agencies.”
“In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed me as a federal judge. I was 38 years old. At the time, I looked forward to serving for the rest of my life. However, I resigned Friday…My reason is simple: I no longer can bear to be restrained by what judges can say publicly or do outside the courtroom. President Donald Trump is using the law for partisan purposes, targeting his adversaries while sparing his friends and donors from investigation, prosecution, and possible punishment. This is contrary to everything that I have stood for in my more than 50 years in the Department of Justice and on the bench. The White House’s assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out. Silence, for me, is now intolerable.”
“The resolution of Ms. Comey’s challenge to her dismissal could affect the legal rights of nearly all federal employees…According to the latest version of the law, passed in 1978, employees are entitled to “fair and equitable treatment … without regard to political affiliation … and with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights,” and personnel actions (including firings) must be based on merit and fitness, and must not be arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory. According to her legal claim, Ms. Comey was fired in violation of these provisions. Her lawsuit is a nearly perfect test case, because she had an impeccable record as a prosecutor.”
“Two months later, the Justice Department, hobbled by scores of resignations and firings and strained by a crisis in morale, has not responded to the lawsuit. The department, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, has struggled to determine which of its offices and lawyers will handle Ms. Comey’s lawsuit, leading to the highly unusual lapse. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal Justice Department affairs.”
“Nemer was one of the first immigration judges fired by the Trump administration after a slew of dismissals of leaders at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the branch of the Justice Department that houses immigration courts. Later that month, the administration fired 12 judges — an entire incoming class that had just been trained and was about to take the bench…The pattern has been consistent. Every few months this year, a new class of judges gets termination notices in the middle of the day, often while they are in the middle of immigration court proceedings. The notices often target those who have reached the end of their two-year probationary period, a trial period for federal workers before they are "converted" to permanent employees. It was previously common for these civil servants to be converted to permanent employees of the DOJ.
…She wonders if her past experience representing immigrants got her fired, even though she also worked at DHS as an asylum officer. Her hunch has some correlation with the data.”
“The Trump administration has formally determined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s current funding mechanism is unlawful, a move that puts the agency on track to close in the coming months when its existing cash runs out. The decision, disclosed in a court filing late Monday, marks the administration’s most direct effort yet to dismantle the consumer watchdog and sets up a new front in the ongoing legal battle over its future. The administration said it now considers the CFPB legally barred from seeking additional money from the Federal Reserve, which is the agency’s typical source of funding.”
“A top federal prosecutor in Florida has issued more than two dozen subpoenas targeting Donald Trump’s critics and perceived political enemies as part of a sprawling criminal inquiry into an alleged “conspiracy” among former officials who previously investigated the president.”
“In one concession to Democrats, the bill will unwind the more than 4,000 layoffs the Trump administration issued during the shutdown. Those reductions in force are currently paused by a federal court…The legislation would ban all agencies from carrying out any RIFs through January. The package of three full-year funding bills would largely reject funding cuts proposed by President Trump, particularly those within USDA.”
“Legal experts say a memo from the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, asserting that federal judges can order attorneys to represent indigent defendants without pay during a lapse in Criminal Justice Act funding, raises a host of constitutional and practical problems. ”
“[S]tates that have issued partial benefits this month may run into more complications when the shutdown ends, as they will have to recalculate the remaining benefits for their beneficiaries. For some states, this could mean hiring third-party vendors to handle this administrative task, as many don’t have the necessary infrastructure to process the unprecedented disruption. States that managed to maintain full benefits so far have run into roadblocks of their own…Green noted this disruption has crucial implications. Because of provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, states will have to begin paying for part of SNAP benefits beginning in 2028, with this percentage determined by payment error rates. Error rates hovered around 11 percent nationally in 2024.”
“With the longest shutdown ever over, Sweet and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers who missed paychecks will soon get some relief. But many are left feeling that their livelihoods served as political pawns in the fight between recalcitrant lawmakers in Washington and are asking themselves whether the battle was worth their sacrifices…But the whiplash of the past six weeks, coupled with the concern that the longest shutdown ever may not be the last they face, has shaken many in the workforce…For Sweet, the feelings of frustration are only compounded by a feeling that she was betrayed by the Democratic-aligned senators who broke with the party on the health care subsidies…“There are other federal workers who understood what we were holding the line for and are extremely unhappy that line was crossed and that trust was breached,” she said.
The federal workers who spoke to The Associated Press had one common message: that they were reeling but ready to get back to work.”
“In 2021, Congress passed into law a provision excluding student debt cancellation from taxable income. As a result, borrowers who received student debt relief after years of repayment were not faced with high and unexpected tax bills. However, that provision is set to expire at the end of this year. Absent action from President Trump or Republicans in Congress, this expiration will mean that borrowers on IDR plans who have legally earned debt cancellation after 20 or 25 years of repayment will be hit with significant tax bills.”
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 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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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]
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.”
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.”
‘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.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Welcome to the end of another week. I’ve highlighted five big stories across a range of issues that have consumed much of this newsletter’s attention over the past 10 months. Still, lots of big stories lurking in the lower headings as well.
“When the government shutdown ends, Donald Trump will have succeeded in staging the single biggest expansion of presidential power in American history because of the single largest shift in the constitutional balance of powers ever…This is vastly more important than Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, an unguided bulldozer rambling through government. Vought’s strategy is all out of a single piece of carefully woven cloth.”
“A striking number of former government attorneys who have served both Republican and Democratic administrations agree that a red line has been crossed and that the garbled legal justifications provided by the administration are inconsistent with the facts and the law. Based on reporting by the Wall Street Journal and CNN, there are lawyers currently serving inside DoD who also agree and have tried to push back.
…the current administration’s approach has been to centralize legal authority, discourage dissent, and marginalize career legal professionals—including military attorneys with deep operational law expertise. Reports suggest that Combatant Command and Pentagon lawyers were excluded from meaningful review of the Caribbean strikes, which, if true, would be a troubling departure from long-established practice. This sidelining reflects a broader pattern that predates the Trump Administration but has only accelerated: a “post hoc” approach to national security lawyering—where legal reasoning is developed after operational decisions are made, often without the benefit of full interagency legal review.”
“The White House did not provide a rationale for the removal, as required by law. The president has fired nearly 20 watchdogs since the start of his second term.”
“The government shutdown has raised lots of questions about the retirement process, and retirement benefits, for federal employees while agencies remain closed. Here are some of the most pressing answers.”
“North Carolina House lawmakers held a hearing Wednesday to question how millions of dollars in legal aid grants are distributed through a state program. The House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform questioned the Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts. Under that program, the interest from certain accounts held in escrow is distributed to nonprofits that provide legal services for people who can't afford them. The General Assembly froze the program's grantmaking in July while lawmakers investigated how funds are given. Rep. Allison Dahle warned that the freeze could jeopardize hundreds of jobs at Legal Aid of North Carolina, the state's largest nonprofit law firm.”
“After a week of backlash from nonprofits angry that donation pages GoFundMe created for their organizations were showing up high in searches by donors, the company has announced it is making the pages opt in and removing and de-indexing pages that have not been claimed. Tim Cadogan, GoFundMe’s CEO, also issued an apology to nonprofits for the initial policy.”
“The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, a nonprofit dedicated to defending freedom of speech, press, and government transparency, brought the suit after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) allegedly failed to respond adequately to formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. These requests sought the release of correspondence, memoranda, and agreements connected to pledges that several elite law firms reportedly made earlier this year to provide nearly $940 million in pro bono legal services to the Trump White House.”
“The primary federal agency charged by Congress with enforcing the federal employment discrimination laws recently made it easier for employers to discriminate against workers, according to a new internal memo, reported but not yet publicly released.”
“After urging Illinoisans last month to record concerning actions by federal agents, Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order Thursday creating a commission to review documentation submitted by the public.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
It’s been a long week. I’ve highlighted a few urgent stories with my “Editor’s Choices” but there’s simply too many major items for that section to contain. In addition: the “Federal Shutdown” area contains some of our first glimpses of the Trump administration’s approach to government spending during the shutdown; some employees are continuing to draw paychecks (“We got the people that we want paid — paid,” Trump said”). “Non-Federal Government Issues” includes some interesting responses to our extraordinary circumstances from local governments: a proposed tax increase from the Mayor of Chicago and a newly-declared State of Emergency in Los Angeles County which will provide legal aid funding for affected residents. And “Civil Society” includes a story on planned efforts to retool the IRS to “Enable Pursuit of Left-Leaning Groups.” As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
“The judicial branch announced that beginning on Monday, Oct. 20, it will no longer have funding to sustain full, paid operations. Until the ongoing lapse in government funding is resolved, federal courts will maintain limited operations necessary to perform the Judiciary’s constitutional functions. Federal judges will continue to serve, in accordance with the Constitution, but court staff may only perform certain excepted activities permitted under the Anti-Deficiency Act.”
“Government attorneys looking to land on their feet in Big Law are facing an increasingly difficult job market. The job market for attorneys headed to the private sector has been over-saturated for months, and Big Law firms are hitting their limit on the number of government attorneys they can hire this year, recruiters say.”
“So far this year, however, the Justice Department has hired significantly fewer assistant US attorneys than in previous years…The administration has proposed hiring more than 400 additional attorneys in the US Attorneys' Offices, bringing the total to 6,144. So far, that's off to a slow start.”
“Multiple people at multiple agencies said their bosses have told them to email up the chain if they hear about RIFs, because, per one source, "they probably won't be told if people are fired."
““We believe it’s our duty to sound the alarm about this administration’s degradation of DoJ’s vital work, and its assault on the public servants who do it,” according to an open letter signed by 282 former officials, obtained exclusively by MSNBC.”
“The Defense Department started the trend this week by repurposing $6.5 billion in unspent research and development funds to keep active-duty service members from missing a paycheck on Wednesday. Military personnel have never missed a paycheck during a government shutdown. In another unusual step, FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that the Trump administration has taken steps to ensure that the bureau’s special agents will be paid during the shutdown…Patel didn’t specify what funding the FBI would use to keep paying its special agents, and the FBI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment…Meanwhile, attorneys at the Justice Department are continuing to represent the Trump administration in court, even though they are working through the shutdown without pay.”
“The Trump administration has promised tens of thousands of federal agents carrying out his immigration crackdown that they will be paid during the government shutdown, according to emails seen by Reuters, even as other federal workers go without pay…After the story was reported, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in a statement that more than 70,000 law enforcement officers across DHS including those at CBP, Ice, the Secret Service and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will be paid. They are to receive by 22 October a “supercheck” covering pay for all hours worked during the shutdown period and the next pay period, she said.”
“It is also far from normal for an administration to fire line-level civilian employees during a government shutdown as a way to punish the opposing political party. But this is precisely what President Trump has announced he is doing[.]”
“In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget, House and Senate lawmakers wrote that the law is clear: Furloughed employees are owed back pay, just as excepted employees are. The letter comes after OMB questioned whether the law actually guaranteed pay for furloughed feds. OMB’s legal opinion, though, quickly received backlash from lawmakers, unions and other employee organizations.”
“Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed Senate Bill 485, which would have required a three-fifths vote of county boards of supervisors and a showing of cause to remove chief public defenders from office. The decision drew disappointment from the California Public Defenders Association, which said the bill was a necessary safeguard for independence and integrity in public defense.”
“Rent relief for tenants who have fallen behind as a result of the ICE raids and money for legal aid and other services are among the provisions in the declaration.”
“Twenty-three Democratic members of Congress signed a letter addressed to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Sept. 26, stating the government had failed to provide the required notice to borrowers. “These seizures have already led to evictions and utility shutoffs that are harming American families,” the Democrats wrote in the letter. The lawmakers say the Education Department is required to give borrowers 60 days’ notice before their tax refunds or Social Security benefits are seized.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
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