Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
It’s been another dramatic week. In DC, a Senator suggested that a legal services organization in Los Angeles had “provided logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged in [] disruptive actions”, an employee association of government workers challenged the Office of Personnel Management’s recently-promulgated “Merit Hiring Plan”, and various commentators engaged with the Senate’s newly-released version of the Trump Administration’s budget bill. Nationwide, State Chief Court Justices appealed to Congress not to oblige the Trump Administration’s request to eliminate the Legal Services Corporation (a new section catalogues some responses to this proposed policy), a variety of state governments and academic institutions filed a slew of amicus briefs supporting Harvard in its dispute with the Trump Administration, and the Skadden Foundation released its 2025 Fellowship Application.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
““How would you help advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities in this role?” the question states. “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.” Those questions already are becoming a requirement of the hiring process; a job listing posted last week by the Interior Department for the superintendent of Mount Rushmore National Memorial includes the questionnaire. However, responses are limited to “200 characters,” far short of OPM’s recommended 200-word maximum.
But Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an employee association made up of federal, state and local government workers, on Wednesday called on acting U.S. Special Counsel Jamieson Greer to take action against the questionnaire. The group argued that the executive order question in particular violates federal hiring laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of “non-performance-related factors” and political affiliation, and that it conflicts with merit system principles.”
“In a written opinion Monday, Judge Denise Cote found OPM “violated the law and bypassed its established cybersecurity practices” when officials first granted individuals from DOGE broad access to its IT systems. “The plaintiffs have shown that the defendants disclosed OPM records to individuals who had no legal right of access to those records,” Cote wrote. “In doing so, the defendants violated the Privacy Act and departed from cybersecurity standards that they are obligated to follow. This was a breach of law and of trust. Tens of millions of Americans depend on the Government to safeguard records that reveal their most private and sensitive affairs.””
“A controversial measure in the U.S. House’s budget bill that would have allowed the federal government to label nonprofit organizations as terrorist groups has been removed from the Senate’s version. But legal experts warn the idea could resurface—and still presents a chilling possibility for free speech and civic engagement.”
“A growing coalition of prosecutors, local governments, and grassroots organizations is sounding the alarm over the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) abrupt termination of over $820 million in public safety and violence prevention funding…Among those weighing in are 17 states and the District of Columbia, a coalition of 25 prosecutors and municipal leaders including Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and a group of community-based subgrantees warning that their survival now hangs in the balance.”
“VA [Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness] has never undertaken such a large restructuring, and does not have the capabilities, expertise or the internal resources to fulfill the requirement,” the department said in the memo. “Therefore, OPM, an outside resource, will be essential for this effort.”
“A federal court in California ruled the Trump administration breached the settlement agreement stemming from the American Civil Liberties Union’s family separation lawsuit. At issue is the administration’s sudden and unexplained termination of a contract guaranteeing legal services to clients covered in the 2023 agreement.”
“Hawley, who serves as chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, requested a history of internal communications and financial records from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) to address allegations that they are fueling chaos in California. “Credible reporting now suggests that your organization has provided logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged in these disruptive actions,” Hawley wrote in the letter. CHIRLA did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the matter. However, the 39-year-old nonprofit did deny reports that they were involved in the Los Angeles demonstrations…The organization has received funds from various sources including the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate local citizenship education training.”
“We wanted to learn more about how federal agencies like the FCC, Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Justice are abusing their authority to target First Amendment rights, so we hosted a discussion with FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez and Ezra Reese, an expert in nonprofit tax law and political law from the Elias Law Group…
…In many instances discussed by Gomez and Reese, officials have hijacked vague legal standards to use them in ways that would threaten the First Amendment. The FCC, for instance, has brought investigations under its “news distortion” policy or sought to use its statutory language instructing it to license the airwaves in the public interest to go after news outlets it disfavors because of their coverage.
Gomez was highly critical of these moves, explaining, “The idea that the FCC would take enforcement action or revoke a broadcast license based on editorial decisions is antithetical to the First Amendment and the Communications Act, which prohibits the FCC from censorship.” As she succinctly put it, “The administration is conflating the public interest with its interests.””
“Destroying LSC would compound other Trump administration attacks on the nation’s legal fabric, including its efforts to: impound legal services funding for unaccompanied immigrant kids, survivors of domestic violence, and victims of natural disasters; intimidate attorneys from engaging in pro bono work; and decimate government enforcement agencies that check abuses…Inside every firm, nonprofit, and corporation, lawyers must ask how we can shore up the rule of law. Options abound.”
“Even as California fights President Donald Trump's use of military forces to assist immigration actions, state lawmakers are poised to restrict who can receive taxpayer-funded legal help in deportation proceedings. Tucked into a 1,000-page spending bill endorsed by legislative budget committees on Wednesday are two sentences that would bar spending any Equal Access Fund money on defending immigrants with felony convictions. The quiet addition to legislation set for full house votes on Friday has legal aid groups scrambling to figure out how to comply at a time demand for their services is soaring.”
“A prominent San Francisco nonprofit leader is starting a hunger strike in June, in protest of a proposed budget cut that threatens to strangle civil legal services in the city. Adrian Tirtanadi is the founder of Open Door Legal, which provides legal services for San Francisco’s low-income residents. Access to these services, Tirtanadi said, can help build a bridge out of poverty in America.”
“FreeState Justice, the Baltimore nonprofit providing free legal services to LGBTQIA+ people across the state, expects to have its budget reduced by 25% after losing a grant issued by the governor’s office, officials confirmed this week.”
“Now, with only the budget to cover one attorney and one paralegal, they have had to drastically cut down on the number of cases, but the demand is still there.”
“Like the House bill, the Senate measure proposes cutting the number of student loan repayment plans to just two. That change would kill President Joe Biden's Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, program, which former Education Secretary Miguel Cardona repeatedly called the "most affordable repayment plan ever." SAVE has been stalled in court for months, placing roughly 8 million people in forbearance…The Senate bill would also dramatically curb lending for graduate students and parents (though at lower caps than House Republicans wanted). Ben Cecil, a senior education policy advisor at Third Way, a center-left think tank, said he was pleased to see the bill appeared to make compromises…Melanie Storey, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said she was "relieved" some of the "most harmful" provisions of the House bill had been nixed.”
“While GOP senators would make some modest changes to the House bill, most of the House-passed provisions repealing key student loan forgiveness and affordable repayment programs would remain intact. This increases the likelihood that the changes would make it into the final version of the bill and ultimately become law.”
“The bill would impose new loan amount limits, simplify repayment options, and make colleges partially responsible for student defaults on loans. The net effect would make federal student loans more expensive.”
“The documents, submitted to a federal court, showed that the Department of Education had been negotiating a deal with the Treasury to oversee federal student loans, a role historically managed by the department's Federal Student Aid office. The plan was put on hold after a federal judge blocked the administration's broader efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.”
“Overall, the number of applicants to law schools is up nationwide. Historically, high salaries, status and furthering academic and career goals were at the top of the list of reasons students chose to pursue a legal degree. But now, most students say that what inspires them is a desire to do good…While many students have always studied law to help serve them in other professions, this too, is shifting. Alber said that most of their applicants express a genuine interest in practicing law or otherwise using the degree to further their goals related to public policy.”
“On June 9, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a ruling in San Francisco AIDS Foundation v. Trump, temporarily blocking the enforcement of several provisions in executive orders issued earlier this year by President Trump. These orders target diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and so-called “gender ideology.”…While the injunction applies only to the named plaintiffs in the case and the challenged provisions remain in effect for all others, the court’s reasoning offers early insight into how similar legal challenges may be evaluated as litigation continues to unfold.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Coming to you with a (late) Monday-morning edition due to unforeseen circumstances. I plan to resume our regular schedule at the end of this week. The last week has been absolutely packed with huge stories, which I’ve tried to compile for you in the links below. Most significantly, the Trump Administration released its plan for ending the Legal Services Corporation, while we got some significant news about the potential future of the Skadden Fellowship program. In other news, the House of Representatives made highly-charged accusations against nonprofits in a public hearing, while the Trump administration threatened the ability of Columbia University students to secure federal student loans to cover their studies there.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“The 2026 budget appendix requests $21 million for an “orderly closeout” of the LSC, which was established in 1974 to provide financial support for legal aid to low-income people in the US. The independent agency, which provides funding to 130 non-profit legal aid programs, had requested $2.1 billion for fiscal 2026.”
“I recently offered my resignation as executive director of the Skadden Foundation, rather than endorse actions that I believe will undermine its mission,” Kathleen Rubenstein, a former Skadden fellow herself who has run the program since 2019, [said]…Rubenstein’s departure adds to the air of uncertainty around the fellows program, which was specifically mentioned in the deal that Skadden struck with the White House in order to avoid an executive order like the kind the president issued against other law firms perceived as sympathetic to his perceived enemies. Four firms have sued the administration over such orders and three of those orders have been ruled unconstitutional.”
“Advocates who supported Catholic Charities cheered the ruling as a blow for religious liberty and against attempts to define whether or not an organization’s motives are sufficiently rooted in faith…Organizations that represent workers, however, have raised questions about the decision’s broader implications for employees of other institutions connected to churches, including the large networks of Catholic hospitals across the U.S.”
“Agencies would be allowed to refer misconduct cases to OPM instead of following the conventional disciplinary process. If OPM determines that termination of an employee is necessary, the agency would have five days to initiate the termination process. The proposed rule also incorporates new suitability criteria as directed by President Trump’s Executive Order issued on February 11, 2025[.]”
“Through the network, trained former Justice Department lawyers will volunteer to represent current and recent former employees in employment disputes and in criminal or congressional investigations, according to Justice Connection.”
“The Trump Administration has adopted new hiring procedures that will impose ideological litmus tests in federal hiring. Job applicants will be graded on essays about their allegiance to “America’s founding principles” and their commitment to implementing Trump’s executive orders.”
“Republican lawmakers alleged a “money laundering” scheme funneling taxpayer dollars to Democratic officials. Nonprofit defenders claimed the Trump administration is “weaponizing the federal government” to chill nonprofit activity and speech.”
“Mayor Adams encouraged asylum seekers Tuesday to continue showing up for immigration court hearings, even as the city’s Law Department blasted President Trump’s administration for creating “a culture of fear” by using such proceedings as ICE hunting grounds for Trump’s “mass deportation” efforts.”
“With the announcement Wednesday that the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights had notified Columbia University's accreditor that it failed to meet its standards of accreditation, officials took their first shot at student loan and Pell grant money. Accreditors are independent bodies that assess schools' quality and finances and their determination is crucial to schools' flow of Title IV funds or federal financial aid.
If a college isn't accredited, its students can't get federal loans and grants to attend. For most colleges, losing access to this funding would be catastrophic.“
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Another major week for news. Most significantly, the Supreme Court lifted a preliminary order, allowing President Trump’s acts firing top officials at the MSPB and NLRB to stand pending the final outcome of litigation. Meanwhile, a lower court blocked the Trump Administration’s plan to transfer its student loan management from the Department of Education to the Small Business Administration. The US State Department has ceased issuing all student visas as it works to overhaul its approval process in order to scrutinize applicants’ social media profiles; students at Harvard weigh in on the personal effects of the Administration’s recent move to revoke visas at that institution specifically. Multiple stories discuss the nonprofit sector as civil society begins to feel the effects of federal funding cuts.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“The majority wrote that Mr. Trump could remove officials who exercise power on his behalf “because the Constitution vests the executive power in the president.” They wrote that this authority was subject to only “narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents.” In her dissent, Justice Kagan countered that the majority was chipping away at longstanding precedent that, she wrote, “forecloses both the president’s firings and the court’s decision to award emergency relief.”
…Weakening the power of the two boards is part of Mr. Trump’s campaign to reshape the government and the workplace. The Merit Systems Protection Board reviews federal employment disputes, while the National Labor Relations Board safeguards the rights of private-sector workers.”
“The Merit Hiring Plan released to agencies Thursday afternoon by the Office of Personnel Management…explicitly orders agencies not to take race and gender into consideration in hiring…Agencies are ordered to immediately stop releasing data on workforce demographics, and to stop hiring people based on race and gender. That data was key, proponents say, to understanding if there was widespread discrimination in hiring practices. The numbers will still be collected, just not released.”
“Hundreds of recently hired and subsequently fired employees at the Homeland Security Department will be part of a class action alleging their dismissals were unlawful after a Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge granted the request. The DHS ruling was the first to come down after a consortium of lawyers filed similar challenges on behalf of fired probationary employees at 20 federal agencies.”
“A month ago, Disability Rights New Jersey, the state’s legal watchdog for people with disabilities, didn’t know if it could make payroll. Federal dollars the nonprofit depends on had been delayed or withheld without explanation by the Trump administration…Over the past month, Disability Rights New Jersey temporarily stopped accepting new clients and restructured how it handles requests for legal help. The pause came after five attorneys resigned.”
“Data from the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) shows 36% of executives reported having either some or a lot a difficulty filling positions, down from 49% from CEP’s 2024 report. However, those executives reported still having difficulty pursuing organizational missions in a complex environment shaped by the current political climate and future economic uncertainty.”
“Skadden, after cutting a deal with President Donald Trump to take on causes he supports, is moving in the opposite direction by helping an immigrant try to avoid removal from the US.
“The State Department is temporarily halting interviews abroad with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas as it expands scrutiny of applicants’ social media posts…without specifying what could flag an applicant for rejection under a new social media policy. The statement noted that visa applicants have been asked to provide social media account information on forms since 2019.”
“At Harvard University and Harvard Law School, students and faculty have expressed “profound fear, concern and confusion” in response to the Trump administration's efforts to block international students from attending the school, according to court documents in the university's federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over the mandate.”
“How has Harvard supported its international student community?
When Harvard filed its suit in the district court to stop the action, we received a copy of the complaint from the school president and a message reiterating his support for international students and scholars on campus. And then we got an email from the international office where the very first line said, “You belong here.” This goes back to what I was saying about how it felt when I first started at Harvard Law, and it’s such an important message to hear right now. When the government is telling us that we are not wanted, our school is standing behind us.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into a state prosecutor’s office—not for breaking the law, but for how the law is applied. This should concern anyone who believes in local control and limited government. In Minnesota, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty directed her team to consider race and age during plea negotiations. The policy’s stated purpose is to address racial disparities and account for youths’ still-developing brains—and although Moriarty emphasized that those factors alone do not justify departing from sentencing guidelines, the DOJ claims the policy might violate civil rights law.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Another major week for news. Most significantly, the Supreme Court lifted a preliminary order, allowing President Trump’s acts firing top officials at the MSPB and NLRB to stand pending the final outcome of litigation. Meanwhile, a lower court blocked the Trump Administration’s plan to transfer its student loan management from the Department of Education to the Small Business Administration. The US State Department has ceased issuing all student visas as it works to overhaul its approval process in order to scrutinize applicants’ social media profiles; students at Harvard weigh in on the personal effects of the Administration’s recent move to revoke visas at that institution specifically. Multiple stories discuss the nonprofit sector as civil society begins to feel the effects of federal funding cuts.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“The majority wrote that Mr. Trump could remove officials who exercise power on his behalf “because the Constitution vests the executive power in the president.” They wrote that this authority was subject to only “narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents.” In her dissent, Justice Kagan countered that the majority was chipping away at longstanding precedent that, she wrote, “forecloses both the president’s firings and the court’s decision to award emergency relief.”
…Weakening the power of the two boards is part of Mr. Trump’s campaign to reshape the government and the workplace. The Merit Systems Protection Board reviews federal employment disputes, while the National Labor Relations Board safeguards the rights of private-sector workers.”
“The Merit Hiring Plan released to agencies Thursday afternoon by the Office of Personnel Management…explicitly orders agencies not to take race and gender into consideration in hiring…Agencies are ordered to immediately stop releasing data on workforce demographics, and to stop hiring people based on race and gender. That data was key, proponents say, to understanding if there was widespread discrimination in hiring practices. The numbers will still be collected, just not released.”
“Hundreds of recently hired and subsequently fired employees at the Homeland Security Department will be part of a class action alleging their dismissals were unlawful after a Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge granted the request. The DHS ruling was the first to come down after a consortium of lawyers filed similar challenges on behalf of fired probationary employees at 20 federal agencies.”
“A month ago, Disability Rights New Jersey, the state’s legal watchdog for people with disabilities, didn’t know if it could make payroll. Federal dollars the nonprofit depends on had been delayed or withheld without explanation by the Trump administration…Over the past month, Disability Rights New Jersey temporarily stopped accepting new clients and restructured how it handles requests for legal help. The pause came after five attorneys resigned.”
“Data from the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) shows 36% of executives reported having either some or a lot a difficulty filling positions, down from 49% from CEP’s 2024 report. However, those executives reported still having difficulty pursuing organizational missions in a complex environment shaped by the current political climate and future economic uncertainty.”
“Skadden, after cutting a deal with President Donald Trump to take on causes he supports, is moving in the opposite direction by helping an immigrant try to avoid removal from the US.
“The State Department is temporarily halting interviews abroad with foreign citizens applying for student and exchange visas as it expands scrutiny of applicants’ social media posts…without specifying what could flag an applicant for rejection under a new social media policy. The statement noted that visa applicants have been asked to provide social media account information on forms since 2019.”
“At Harvard University and Harvard Law School, students and faculty have expressed “profound fear, concern and confusion” in response to the Trump administration's efforts to block international students from attending the school, according to court documents in the university's federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over the mandate.”
“How has Harvard supported its international student community?
When Harvard filed its suit in the district court to stop the action, we received a copy of the complaint from the school president and a message reiterating his support for international students and scholars on campus. And then we got an email from the international office where the very first line said, “You belong here.” This goes back to what I was saying about how it felt when I first started at Harvard Law, and it’s such an important message to hear right now. When the government is telling us that we are not wanted, our school is standing behind us.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into a state prosecutor’s office—not for breaking the law, but for how the law is applied. This should concern anyone who believes in local control and limited government. In Minnesota, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty directed her team to consider race and age during plea negotiations. The policy’s stated purpose is to address racial disparities and account for youths’ still-developing brains—and although Moriarty emphasized that those factors alone do not justify departing from sentencing guidelines, the DOJ claims the policy might violate civil rights law.”
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. Glad you’re still with us. Events fall fast and thick around us again this week: In Cambridge MA, the Harvard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors has called upon colleagues at sister institutions to assist the University’s international students who face potential immigration problems after the Trump Administration suddenly decertified Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (later in the day, a federal court issued a temporary restraining order against the decertification). Also in MA, a federal judge pressed the government to lay out with specificity its rationale against “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in a case against the National Institutes of Health. In California, another judge issued another order preventing ongoing reductions in force at a broad swath of agencies; the Trump Administration has already appealed. In Congress, a bill that would rewrite huge swathes of federal policy, including student loans and non-profit tax status, passed the House of Representatives.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“When a university’s SEVP certification is revoked, currently enrolled international students must choose between transferring to a different institution, changing their immigration status, or leaving the country, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website…In the letter to Garber, Noem alleged that the records that Harvard submitted on April 30 were “insufficient” and failed to address “simple reporting requirements.” She also accused Harvard of “perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, you have lost this privilege.”…
Noem gave Harvard 72 hours to turn over a flurry of documents to the DHS to have “the opportunity” to regain its SEVP certification before the upcoming academic year. Those documents include paper records, audio, and video of protest activity by any international student enrolled at any of Harvard’s schools in the last five years. The DHS also asked for the full slate of disciplinary records of international students at Harvard for the last five years. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will restore Harvard’s SEVP certification if it submits the requested documents.”
“[E]ffective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked. The revocation of your Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.”
“Current international students will need to transfer out of Harvard or risk losing their ability to remain in the United States lawfully if the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification remains in effect…Despite the sweeping nature of the directive, students that are set to graduate from Harvard during next week’s Commencement ceremony should be eligible to receive their degrees, according to eight immigration lawyers who spoke with The Crimson.
The revocation of Harvard’s SEVP status does not immediately invalidate student visas, according to Vijay. Instead, she said the agency is likely to give students some grace period to determine how they will respond before taking more drastic measures. “They did not say 15 days or 60 days or two days — nothing,” Vijay said. “When we get such clients, we tell them to ‘hurry up,’ and within 15 days at best, try to transfer.” Immigration attorney Dahlia M. French also said there will be a deadline for students to address their immigration status or transfer, though the DHS has not publicly announced one.
Students who transfer to a SEVP-certified university would be able to retain a valid I-20, and thus avoid losing their visas. But the transfer deadline for many schools falls in March, meaning students’ status in the U.S. would be in jeopardy while they wait for applications to open.”
“In an appeal for solidarity across institutions of higher education in this moment of existential threat to academic freedom and core First Amendment rights, we also call upon our fellow institutions of higher education in the United States to declare their willingness to facilitate the immediate co-enrollment of Harvard’s international students, including formal acceptance of transfer for immigration purposes.” [emphasis added]
““With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission,” Harvard said in its suit….”
“When Trump took office in January, 2.4 million people worked for the federal government, making it America’s largest employer. In four months, Trump and a chainsaw-wielding Elon Musk have hacked off chunks of government in the name of efficiency, with tactics rarely seen in public or private industry. The cuts so far represent roughly 6 percent of the federal workforce, but they have effectively wiped out entire departments and agencies, such as AmeriCorps and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was slashed 85 percent; the Education Department was cut in half.
Some have found themselves fired, rehired, then let go again. Many have been ridiculed as “lazy” and “corrupt.” They’ve been locked out of offices by police, fired for political “disloyalty,” and told to check their email to see if they still draw a paycheck.
In interviews, more than 30 former and current federal workers told The Washington Post that the chaos and mass firings had left them feeling devalued, demoralized and scared for themselves and the country. Many described problems they’d never experienced before: insomnia, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts. Others with a history of mental struggles said they’d found themselves pushed into terrifying territory.”
“In an unsigned two-page order, the court explained that the decision to put the lower courts’ orders on hold “reflects our judgment that the Government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty.” Justice Elena Kagan dissented from the court’s order, in an eight-page opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Calling the order “nothing short of extraordinary,” Kagan would have turned down the Trump administration’s request. The dispute stems from Trump’s efforts to remove two federal officials, Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris of the Merits Systems Protection Board, earlier this year.”
“Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative sought this week to gain access to the congressional office which fields and manages complaints about discrimination, harassment, accessibility and other workplace issues, according to three congressional employees granted anonymity to describe the sensitive situation. The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights is the third legislative branch agency that the Trump administration has recently attempted to access.”
“The order issued late Thursday granted a preliminary injunction that pauses further reductions in force and “reorganization of the executive branch for the duration of the lawsuit.” The Trump administration on Friday morning appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and is expected to ask that court to block the injunction from taking effect.”
“This injunction shall apply to the following defendant agencies: OMB, OPM, DOGE (USDS), USDA, Commerce, Energy, HHS, HUD, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation, VA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, EPA, GSA, NLRB, NSF, SBA, and SSA. Plaintiffs have presented evidence that these agencies are implementing, or preparing to soon implement, large-scale RIFs and reorganizations pursuant to the Executive Order and OMB/OPM Memo.”
“Former employees of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) have filed a class action appeal seeking reinstatement after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) carried out a Reduction in Force (RIF), impacting hundreds of employees around the country. The RIF, which the former employees allege was done without the required Congressional authorization, effectively shuttered several offices in an agency upon which the entire federal government and workforce rely.”
“Changes to the bill are expected in the Senate, but senators’ concerns have mainly centered around issues like reducing the deficit, adjusting cuts to Medicaid and green-energy tax credits, and shifting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program costs to the states. Therefore, it’s unclear if there are plans to remove any of the provisions affecting nonprofits since they are primarily designed to offset the tax cuts.”
“Tucked within the multitrillion-dollar legislation are dramatic changes to federal student aid: A complete overhaul of income-driven repayment plans, a new Repayment Assistance Plan, new caps on borrowing and more.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
““Someone’s got to help me on that,” [Judge] Young added. “I’m not making policy statements. I’m asking for a definition of a policy that squares with what I had always understood were the defining elements of the American experience.”…he pressed Khetarpal for more clarity about the government’s approach to DEI initiatives, which the Trump administration is working to scrub from American education, government, social services, and the workplace.
“Does that mean our policy is homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion? I mean, are you going to stand there and tell me, that now is the policy of the National Institutes of Health?” Young asked.
…“Someone in this administration says DEI, there’s apparently something wrong with that. As neutrally as you can, what does that mean?” Young asked.” [emphasis added]
“Lawyers and advocates this week reported arrests of migrants outside of immigration courthouses across the U.S., saying teams of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had detained individuals whose cases in front of immigration judges had just been terminated at the request of the government…”
“The Trump administration is moving to dismiss federal oversight agreements in Louisville and Minneapolis reached following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor and police killing of George Floyd, and dropping investigations into several major US police departments…In court filings Wednesday morning, the Justice Department asked judges in Minnesota and Kentucky to dismiss the consent decrees reached with the police departments in Minneapolis and Louisville…The Civil Rights Division is also closing investigations into local police departments in Phoenix; Trenton, New Jersey; Memphis, Tennessee; Mount Vernon, New York; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and the Louisiana State Police.”
“This month, the Illinois Senate will consider the Funded Advocacy & Independent Representation Act, a bill to create a statewide, independent public defense system. If passed, the legislation will create an Office of the State Public Defender and a State Public Defender Commission. Together, they would establish workload standards, support training and enhance resources for county public defense systems across the state.”
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. Glad you’re still with us–and very glad to have had a chance to connect with some of you in person at the ABA/NLADA Conference in San Francisco this week! While we’ve been conferencing, the Trump Administration has been attempting (thus far without success) to install new employees at the Library of Congress and the Government Accountability Office. In Congress itself, the draft version of a new tax bill indicates a number of significant changes to the tax environment for universities and non-profits. CNN has obtained court documents indicating the government’s bold, aggressive strategy for convincing a court to grant them access to Columbia’s campus. And the National Center for Youth Law is hoping to take on some of the former efforts of the Department of Education.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“in the aftermath of recent Trump administration efforts to upend the leadership at the Library of Congress, officials with the non-department Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reached out to another legislative support agency — the U.S. Government Accountability Office — wanting to “assign a team” to GAO. Per a staff announcement on Friday, GAO — which describes itself as “an independent, non-partisan agency that works for Congress” — said no[:]
‘As a legislative branch agency, GAO is not subject to Executive Orders and has therefore declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.’”
“President Trump on Monday named the No. 2 official at the Justice Department and his former personal lawyer to serve as the acting librarian of Congress…Staff members at the library balked and called the U.S. Capitol Police as well as their general counsel, Meg Williams, who told the two officials that they were not allowed access to the Copyright Office and asked them to leave…Mr. Perkins and Mr. Nieves then left the building willingly, accompanied to the door by Ms. Williams. The library’s staff is recognizing Robert Newlen, the principal deputy librarian who was Dr. Hayden’s No. 2, as the acting librarian until it gets direction from Congress, one of the people familiar with the situation said.”
“While the takeover has been framed as part of Trump’s broader purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content, it is the latest effort by the president and his team to subsume the role of Congress and ensure it cannot do its job. An expert on the Library of Congress tells Rolling Stone that Trump’s takeover attempt is “dangerous,” given that the Library’s sub-agencies provide confidential legal advice to members of Congress and help police misconduct by lawmakers. The expert says the Trump administration is actively trying to place a landing team at the Library of Congress, noting that when Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done this elsewhere, the first thing that team does is hoover up and gain control over as much sensitive data as possible…Moreover, they note that the Congressional Research Service (CRS), an agency within the Library of Congress, “provides confidential advice to Congress, including confidential legal advice, and there is a database that has all the questions that every member has asked for the last 50 years and the answers. That cannot be made available.”” (emphasis added)
“Legacy Foundation has committed $600,000 to shore up slashed budgets for nonprofit organizations hit by state and federal budget cuts. Officials announced the new Lake County Resilience Grant program Thursday in Merrillville with several nonprofit leaders sharing the impact of the government funding cuts to their organizations.”
“Increase in Excise Tax on Investment Income of Private Colleges and Universities (Endowment Tax)…
Increase in Excise Tax on Private Foundation Investment Income…Expanded Scope of "Excess Compensation Tax" for Nonprofits…
Suspension of Tax-Exempt Status for Terrorist Supporting Organizations…This provision adopts language from prior proposed legislation, H.R. 9495 (dubbed by some as the "Nonprofit Killer Bill"), with some adjustments. It modifies IRC § 501(p) to grant authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to suspend the tax-exempt status of any organization designated as a "terrorist supporting organization." An organization may be designated a terrorist support organization if the Treasury Secretary determines that within the prior three years the organization provided more than a de minimis amount of material support or resources to a designated terrorist organization.”
“Last year, I warned that this legislation could be used by an administration interested in going after civil society by manipulating the language of national security…This year, we do not need to imagine attacks on NGOs generally and their tax-exempt status specifically as a scary hypothetical. It’s currently happening without this legislation…And lest one, for some reason, soothe oneself by saying that this will only (“only”) impact those engaged on issues related to Israel, Palestine, and antisemitism, the NGO sector itself knows that this is not true: Last month, there were reports that Trump was considering signing an executive order that would strip the tax-exempt status of environmental groups.”
“Court documents, including a newly unsealed search warrant affidavit, reveal authorities went further than previously known in their effort to target the students and the university…The affidavit shows that government officers asked Columbia to allow them into Chung’s university housing but were denied. At the time, Columbia would not permit access without a warrant signed by a judge…The federal agent who wrote the affidavit said he was not aware whether Chung had left her college apartment and that finding her there could be evidence of Columbia “harboring an alien.”
…“Columbia University has refused, and continues to refuse, to permit immigration officers to locate and arrest Ranjani Srinivasan and Yunseo Chung at their student housing and were and are thus concealing, harboring, or shielding from detection removable aliens, Ranjani Srinivasan and Yunseo Chung, or are conspiring to do so.”
Nathan Yaffe, Srinivasan’s former lawyer and part of the team representing Chung, said this made “no sense.”
“It’s incoherent to go to a judge and say, ‘On March 8, we terminated this person’s student status and within 72 hours that person had left the United States (but) we’re going to pursue harboring charges against the institution where she used to reside,” he told CNN. “That one is totally bizarre.”
The search warrants were authorized by a District Court Judge on March 13.”
“according to an internal memo, the agency will be deprioritizing the regulation of certain industries, including student loans and digital payments. While the memo notes that the CFPB is shifting away from supervision and enforcement of areas that can be handled by states, reduced federal support could make state regulatory enforcement more difficult.”
“[A] coalition of 40 attorneys general [sent] a letter to Congressional leaders opposing a proposed 10-year ban on states enforcing any state law or regulation addressing artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making systems. The ban was included in the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s changes to the budget reconciliation bill.”
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. Glad you’re still with us. This week, the Trump Administration summarily fired the Librarian of Congress while former DOJ attorneys launched a new DC firm to contest the Administration’s ongoing reductions in force across the federal civil service. The specific effects of last week’s widespread grant terminations across DOJ’s grant portfolio are starting to come into focus. The Department of Education announced that people with student loans in default would be notified of their options soon and could lose federal benefits or see their wages garnished beginning this summer; the Department also sent a letter to Harvard University announcing that “Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government since none will be provided.” In Louisville Kentucky, Black students from across the city were honored in an “Ascension Citywide Black Graduation Ceremony” unaffiliated with any of the local universities that had conferred on them their degrees.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“I enjoy my job and do not want to leave — but the administration’s hostility towards federal workers is seemingly increasing, and I know there is a decent likelihood I will have to begin a job search soon. I used to have a 5- and 10-year career plan, and now I’m not even sure what things will look like in five months.”
“Two former U. S. Department of Justice attorneys who recently left their government positions have launched a Washington D.C. -based firm they say will fight the Trump administration’s efforts to ‘dismantle the federal workforce.’ ”
“Hayden was formally notified of her termination in an email from the White House’s presidential personnel department just before 7 p.m. Thursday, according to a copy of the email reviewed by CQ Roll Call…The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with buildings located on the Capitol campus. While it is a legislative branch agency, the president has statutory authority to appoint the head of the Library of Congress, with Senate confirmation.” [emphasis added]
“Amy Solomon, former assistant attorney general who oversaw the Office of Justice Programs and now a senior fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, said the cuts touched on every aspect of the department’s portfolio.”
“Among programs cut as the Trump administration slashed funding to AmeriCorps was Illinois JusticeCorps, a program that embedded volunteers in courthouses around the state to provide assistance and guidance through a variety of legal processes. One such volunteer is Jack Popovich, who is set to attend law school this fall but first planned to spend a year with JusticeCorps, operating the self-help desk at the Champaign County Courthouse.”
“Trump’s proposal calls for a $980 million reduction in funding for the program, which was appropriated $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2024. In his budget plan, the president called for Federal Work-Study to be run by the states and the colleges “that financially benefit from it.” “Reform of this poorly targeted program should redistribute remaining funding to institutions that serve the most low-income students and provide a wage subsidy to gain career-oriented opportunities to improve long-term employment outcomes of students,” it says.”
“In a three-page letter sent to Harvard University on Monday evening, the Department of Education said federal agencies will no longer provide the wealthy institution with any grant funding, alleging that Harvard has engaged in a “systemic pattern of violating federal law” and calling it a “mockery of this country’s higher education system.”…Some conservative policy experts see Monday’s move as an aggressive step to break Harvard’s silo from accountability…But Lynn Pasquerella, president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, described Monday’s letter as a “particularly disturbing” and “unwarranted escalation of threats.””
“The U.S. Department of Education announced on Monday, May 5 that by the end of summer, 5.3 million defaulted student loan borrowers will receive a 30-day notice from the U.S. Department of Treasury, notifying them that they could lose federal benefits. About 195,000 defaulted student loan borrowers received this notice on Monday, and the first federal monthly benefit checks to be impacted are those scheduled for early June, a statement reads.”
“the Department will soon notify defaulted borrowers, requiring them to make payments, enroll in an income-driven repayment plan, or seek loan rehabilitation. The government plans to initiate collections this summer through tax refund offsets, federal pension garnishments, and wage garnishments if payments are not made. To ease the transition, the Department of Education is enhancing borrower support with extended call center hours, a new AI assistant, and an updated loan simulator.” [various emphasis removed]
“This means that, for students entering college or graduate school for the first time, the financial aid landscape could be grim. The Republican plan puts new limits on how much students in high-cost areas or in high-cost programs can borrow for tuition, books, room and board, even as moderate-income students will no longer be eligible for federal grants. Borrowing for graduate and professional school could be capped in a way that would make it much more difficult for lower-income students to pursue careers in medicine and law.” [emphasis added]
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“for every employee, student, faculty member, or administrator who formerly occupied a position with any DEI responsibilities, ‘mandate,’ duties, or title whatsoever, identify whether that individual’s position and title have been eliminated, whether the individual is still associated with the University in any official or unofficial, paid or unpaid capacity and, if so, the name and nature of that individual’s current title or position.”
“Gov. Patrick Morrisey praised the passage of bills codifying his executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government and education programs; and a bill closing remaining loopholes that allowed for medication gender-affirming care.”
“Roughly 20 Black students from Louisville universities walked the stage at St. Stephen Baptist Church May 8 for the inaugural "Ascension Citywide Black Graduation Ceremony," hosted in resistance to recent state and federal crackdowns on anti-diversity, equity and inclusion practices in higher education. The event — unaffiliated with any local universities — welcomed students from the University of Louisville, Bellarmine University, Spalding University and Simmons College of Kentucky, who had their names called over a microphone and received certificates and roses to mark the occasion.”
“As Delaware implements its new right to representation law for tenants facing eviction, Wilmington City Council heard from legal aid leaders on Wednesday, who outlined progress made under the law and requested city support for a $786,000 settlement assistance fund to prevent further displacement.”
“For the first time in more than a decade, the San Francisco public defender’s office is so overloaded with cases that it has closed up shop. The office will decline new clients on one business day each week.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Welcome to May. The first of the month saw widespread protests by members of the legal profession, set to coincide with “Law Day”. In an Executive Order, President Trump directed AG Bondi to secure “private-sector pro bono assistance” for law enforcement officers subjected to litigation “for actions taken during the performance of their official duties to enforce the law.” At the Department of Justice, dramatic changes in government priorities have led to significant staff turnover, while elsewhere the agency indicated it intends to itself assume responsibility for advising families separated at the border during the first Trump administration. Federal workers subject to reductions in force are discovering that their health benefits may have been affected even during periods when they were employed. The Department of Government Efficiency turned its attention to AmeriCorps, cutting off a wide variety of grants including (apparently) some grants for legal services; multiple states have sued in response. In Congress, recently-revealed legislation does not propose to cut PSLF entirely. In civil society, the Wall St. Journal reported that a private collective of prominent university leaders are discussing how to assert their institutions’ independence from the Trump Administration.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
“The division changed mission statements across its sections to focus less on racial discrimination and more on fighting diversity initiatives. And department officials reassigned more than a dozen career staffers — including section chiefs overseeing police brutality, disability and voting rights cases — to areas outside their legal expertise…The division had about 380 attorneys when Trump began his second term in the White House. Approximately half have left or said they will leave, according to people familiar with the division…Dhillon, in her appearance on Beck’s podcast, acknowledged that recent departures had — for the moment — affected the resources her division could bring to bear on its newly established priorities. “We’re going to run out of attorneys to work on these things at some point,” she quipped. Still, she added, the civil rights division was looking to hire new lawyers. “I care that they’re willing to take direction and zealously enforce the civil rights of the United States, according to their [sic] priorities of the president,” Dhillon said.”
“In interviews, attendees in New York pointed to actions such as Mr. Trump’s targeting of law firms, wrongful deportations and the arrest of a Wisconsin judge on charges of obstructing immigration enforcement.”
“ Across the nation, judges are facing increased threats of not only physical violence, but also professional retaliation just for doing our jobs,” said Justice Jackson, speaking at a conference for judges held in Puerto Rico. “And the attacks are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”
“An attorney recruited to the Commerce Department’s CHIPS for America program in 2023, Waterfield had felt she was part of something monumental, something that would move the country forward: rebuilding America’s semiconductor industry. Instead, nearly two months after being fired in the Trump administration’s purge of newer — or “probationary” — federal employees, Waterfield is enmeshed in a bureaucratic mess over her health care coverage. It’s a mess that’s left her fearing her entire family may now be uninsured.”
“The preliminary injunction from Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin allows the funding for legal representation for minor children to continue while the case proceeds.”
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has so far withheld at least $436.87 billion of congressionally approved funding, the top Democrats on the U.S. Congress’ appropriation committees said on Tuesday…These findings will be publicly posted in a tracker tallying the minimum the committees believe the administration is freezing or fighting in court to block, a committee aide said.”
“Many grants funded under a decades-old anti-poverty program, Volunteers in Service to America, or VISTA, were also cut, the nonprofit said, including all but two that run through the states.”
[Ed. Note: The complaint in the suit details which grants have been cut, including legal services grants such as the “AmeriCorps Holistic Advocate Program”]
“a bipartisan coalition of 40 attorneys general [urged] Congressional leaders to fully fund the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), according to a recent press release.”
“After abruptly declining to renew a contract with a nonprofit to provide court-ordered legal assistance to families separated at the border under the first Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice has proposed providing that service itself. Experts worry that’s a conflict of interest that could put those families at risk of deportation and being separated again.”
“Leaders of some of the nation’s most prestigious universities have assembled a private collective to counter the Trump administration’s attacks on research funding and academic independence across higher education, according to people familiar with the effort. The informal group currently includes about 10 schools, including Ivies and leading private research universities, mostly in blue states. Strategy discussions gained momentum after the administration’s recent list of demands for sweeping cultural change at Harvard, viewed by many universities as an assault on independence.”
“Hours after Harvard University faced the Trump administration in court for the first time in its push to restore more than $2 billion in blocked federal funding, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college made a symbolic bow to White House demands, renaming its diversity, equity and inclusion office.”
“President Donald Trump has directed the U.S. Justice Department to mobilize law firms to defend police officers unjustly accused of misconduct free of charge, marking the latest effort to steer the work of private lawyers to his administration’s ends.”
“Cortese said creating the public law school would lower barriers to entry, as cost and location can turn people away from entering careers in public service — including first generation students and other underrepresented demographics.”
“The good news for PSLF borrowers is that the House Republican draft reconciliation bill would not make other significant changes to the program, such as by capping loan forgiveness or cutting off borrowers at certain income levels. Some advocates had been concerned that additional restrictions on student loan forgiveness under the program would be included in the GOP bill. But that’s not the end of the story. This week, the Department of Education held its first public hearing as part of negotiated rulemaking, a lengthy process that allows the department to update, change, or repeal regulations governing federal student loan programs. And PSLF is explicitly a topic for negotiated rulemaking this year. The department is considering enacting new rules to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order in March that would cut off student loan forgiveness eligibility under PSLF for organizations that engage in certain “illegal” activities.”
“Beginning in March, as many as 20 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, aided by contractors, ran 1.3 million names of foreign students through a federal database that tracks criminal histories, missing persons and other brushes with the law…But many of those hits flagged students who had minor interactions with police — arrests for reckless driving, DUIs and misdemeanors, with charges often dropped or never brought at all — far short of the legal standard required to revoke a student’s legal ability to study in the U.S. Nevertheless, ICE officials used that data to “terminate” the students’ records in an online database schools and ICE use to track student visa holders in the U.S. Those terminations led schools to bar students from attending classes — some just weeks from graduation — and warn that they could be at risk of immediate deportation.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
“Federal election officials are suggesting states must pledge to follow President Donald Trump’s directive curbing diversity, equity and inclusion programs as a condition for receiving $15 million in election security funding. The new requirement for the grants has sent Democratic secretaries of state around the nation scrambling to assess the financial, legal and operational implications of accepting the money from the independent, bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The dispute is complicated by the vagueness of the revised federal grant agreement, which some state officials fear could be turned against them. The grant’s terms tell states they must promise to follow federal antidiscrimination laws but cite an executive order from Trump on DEI that Democrats oppose.”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
Here we are, at the end of another eventful week. Harvard’s opposition to the Trump administration’s various policy demands matured into a lawsuit this week, while hundreds of university leaders “sp[oke] with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference” in an open statement. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice terminated hundreds of grants on a variety of topics, including legal services, a district judge blocked (again) the administration’s efforts to terminate CFPB employees en masse, and the Attorney General of New York announced a webinar to help nonprofits navigate “evolving issues in the sector” (registration link below). Finally, the Department of Education announced it will begin involuntary collections (wage garnishment) next month.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“Beginning May 5, the Education Department will begin involuntary collections through the Treasury Department's offset program, which claws back delinquent debts by withholding payments such as tax refunds, federal salaries and Social Security benefits.”
“In its letter earlier this month, the administration told Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are "hostile to the American values." It also called for broad leadership reforms at the university, admissions policy changes and the end of college recognition for some student clubs. The government also demanded Harvard audit its faculty and student body to ensure wide viewpoints in every department and, if necessary, diversify by admitting additional students and hiring new faculty.” [Read Harvard’s complaint here.]
“Last week, administration officials reached out to Harvard representatives three times in an effort to restart talks, a person familiar with the outreach told CNN. The nation’s oldest university indicated it was not interested in negotiating, the person said.”
“As we have seen over the last several days, standing up for our values and independence as an institution comes with significant sacrifices…In addition, we are pursuing immediate interventions to build additional financial capacity for the FAS. First, the FAS is pausing all non-essential capital projects and spending. Second, we will continue the staff and faculty hiring pause through the summer, at which point we will again reassess. And third, there will be no annual pay increases for exempt staff and faculty for the 2025-2026 fiscal year. These are difficult but necessary steps that aid our efforts to preserve resources, while investing in our academic mission and strategic priorities.
We will also undertake a formal review of the FAS’s administrative operations and footprint…The Task Force on Workforce Planning will conduct a comprehensive analysis of staffing across the FAS and all its units, and will develop a set of recommendations for actions. These recommendations may include proposals for staff reorganizations and reductions.”
“Hundreds of college presidents and other officials have signed a letter protesting the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” that higher education is facing under the Trump administration.”
“The Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that studies the federal work force, has used budget figures to produce a rough estimate that firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers will cost upward of $135 billion this fiscal year.”
“Three advocacy groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Kristi Noem, seeking to restore staff jobs at three gutted offices that oversee civil rights protections across the department's broad mission.”
“The Trump administration has quietly transformed the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, forcing out a majority of career managers and implementing new priorities that current and former officials say abandon a decadeslong mission of enforcing laws that prohibit discrimination in hiring, housing and voting rights. More than a dozen senior lawyers — many with decades of experience working under presidents of both parties — have been reassigned, the current and former officials say. Some have resigned in frustration after they were moved to less desirable roles unrelated to their expertise, according to the sources.”
“Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week barred the CFPB from dramatically reducing its staffing, saying she is concerned that CFPB officials are ignoring her earlier order, as modified by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, that keeps the agency in existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit filed by the National Treasury Employees Union and others challenging plans to dismantle the agency.”
“The canceled awards were identified through a review process that determined they did not align with the Trump administration’s priorities, Maureen Henneberg, acting head of the Office of Justice Programs, told staff in an email obtained by The Washington Post.”
“The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a motion in federal court to stop the Department of Justice from cutting off legal services for families who were forcibly separated at the U.S.-Mexico border during the first Trump administration.”
“The Trump administration on March 21 terminated part of a $200 million contract that funds attorneys and other legal services for unaccompanied children. Those are children who arrive without parents or legal guardians — and typically instead come with aunts, uncles or older siblings, according to immigration attorneys. While the contract termination is being challenged in court, immigrant advocates say the impact is already being felt, as lawyer groups pull back on services – leaving some children on their own.”
“Groups are on high alert as rumors fly about the administration possibly revoking their tax-exempt status or investigating them for illegal actions or noncompliance with executive orders. Attorney General Letitia James’ office is hosting a webinar next Monday to offer guidance and equip nonprofits ahead of any federal moves. So far, over 1,000 groups have signed up for the event.” [emphasis added]
“Republicans in Congress are investigating the Chinese-American Planning Council for sponsoring a seminar to educate immigrants about their rights when dealing with ICE.”
“Dozens of international students across the United States reported Thursday that their legal status — abruptly terminated by the federal government in recent weeks — had been quietly restored without warning or explanation…According to an organizer of F-1 Termination Watch, a group of international students, some affected by status changes, tracking student visa and SEVIS terminations across the country, the reinstatements have appeared “arbitrary.”…”
Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives
Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress
Hi Interested Public,
We’ve made it to the end of another week. The Department of Government Efficiency met with the Legal Services Corporation this week, and also explored the idea of assigning a DOGE team member to the Vera Institute of Justice (an independent nonprofit). The IRS is planning to rescind Harvard University’s tax exempt status after the school refused to comply with a second list of demands issued to it by multiple federal agencies–including audit-based enforcement of a “viewpoint diversity in admissions & hiring” policy. The Department of Justice argued in court that the Trump Administration’s recent pattern of unilaterally deleting foreign students’ SEVIS records did not equate to a revocation of their legal status; some advocates say their clients have been told the opposite. Leadership at the CFPB have shrunk the agency to a staff of around 200; a federal judge held a hearing earlier today to examine whether those reductions failed to comply with a preliminary injunction she had issued against en masse RIFs.
As always, these stories and more are in the links below.
Solidarity,
“"Increasingly, I'm hearing about political considerations being an issue in firms deciding whether they're going to be able to assist," said Dustin Rynders, the legal director of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
"I have been turned down on some recent requests where people have expressed concern about political ramifications, about being involved in immigrant rights work in this time, about being involved in civil rights, voting rights cases, in challenges against the administration," he said.”
“The mass reduction in force, or RIF, comes nearly a month after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from removing probationary employees at the CFPB and other agencies. On Friday, an appeals court ruled that the CFPB could begin terminations again so long as “individual assessments” were conducted for each terminated employee. Around 200 employees will be left at the CFPB, effectively gutting the agency Elon Musk has previously said should be ‘deleted.’”
“U.S. DOGE Service representatives told leaders of a nonprofit group Tuesday that it wants to assign members of its team to work at all institutes or agencies that receive federal funds, highlighting its aggressiveness as it attempts to reshape the federal government, according to several people familiar with the matter.
…A member of DOGE last week emailed the Vera Institute of Justice — an independent nonprofit organization that advocates for lower incarceration rates — to schedule a meeting about “getting a DOGE team assigned to the organization,” according to a copy of the email that was reviewed by The Washington Post.”
“The president’s remarks, during an event at the White House, began to confirm what advocacy groups have been quietly warning: Trump’s campaign of retribution is coming next for them.”
“In his statement to the Harvard community, Garber expressed why the university could not morally—or legally—comply with the demands of the federal government by linking to a letter he and Penny Pritzker, the leading member of the Harvard Corporation, had received just days prior from US Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service Josh Gruenbaum; US Department of Education Action General Counsel Thomas E. Wheeler; and US Department of Health and Human Services Acting General Counsel Sean R. Keveney.
…Harvard was not the first university to be targeted by the Trump administration, but it is the first to definitively resist stipulated demands and give the indication that it would be willing to fight the federal funds drain in court. “A very big shift from what we’ve seen from other universities, but if anyone could do it, it’s Harvard,” wrote Patty Culhane Al Jazeera’s Washington Correspondent.”
“Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring. By August 2025, the University shall commission an external party, which shall satisfy the federal government as to its competence and good faith, to audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse. This audit shall begin no later than the summer of 2025 and shall proceed on a department-by-department, field-by-field, or teaching-unit-by-teaching-unit basis as appropriate. The report of the external party shall be submitted to University leadership and the federal government no later than the end of 2025. Harvard must abolish all criteria, preferences, and practices, whether mandatory or optional, throughout its admissions and hiring practices, that function as ideological litmus tests. Every department or field found to lack viewpoint diversity must be reformed by hiring a critical mass of new faculty within that department or field who will provide viewpoint diversity; every teaching unit found to lack viewpoint diversity must be reformed by admitting a critical mass of students who will provide viewpoint diversity. If the review finds that the existing faculty in the relevant department or field are not capable of hiring for viewpoint diversity, or that the relevant teaching unit is not capable of admitting a critical mass of students with diverse viewpoints, hiring or admissions within that department, field, or teaching unit shall be transferred to the closest cognate department, field, or teaching unit that is capable of achieving viewpoint diversity. This audit shall be performed and the same steps taken to establish viewpoint diversity every year during the period in which reforms are being implemented, which shall be at least until the end of 2028.”
“The Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, according to two sources familiar with the matter, which would be an extraordinary step of retaliation as the Trump administration seeks to turn up pressure on the university that has defied its demands to change its hiring and other practices.”
“A recent letter from the American Bar Association (ABA) has revealed that all grant funding from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women has been terminated, effective immediately. The abrupt announcement has left organizations scrambling to assess the potential impact on their operations and services. The ABA's letter states, "As we consider our next steps, we must pause all work related to these grants."”
“Among the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to our immigration system are new policies that threaten to limit pro-bono legal services in immigration court.
…Atkinson helps oversee the Attorney of the Day program, and said their team of volunteer attorneys are not respondents’ official legal representatives, but appear as “friends of the court,” to help proceedings run smoothly and ensure immigrants know their rights and understand the daunting legal path ahead. They also help connect immigrants with local -bono legal services who might be able to take on their cases.
…The memo reinstates a policy enacted at the end of President Trump’s first term but later rescinded by President Biden. It says anyone appearing as a friend of the court can’t engage in legal advocacy unless they’re the respondent’s official attorney.
…Since the DOJ’s memo went out in February, Atkinson said they’ve continued to send lawyers with the Attorney of the Day program to immigration court. So far, she said, San Francisco Immigration Court judges and government attorneys haven’t objected to their presence.”
“In court filings [an] assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan…argued that deleting a student’s records from the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System, a database that holds international students’ information, did not equate to a revocation of their status.
…[S]ome immigration lawyers working closely with affected students and institutions say their clients have been told the very opposite regarding their legal status in the country.
The filing appears to be the first time the government has responded in writing to lawsuits that have been filed against the Trump administration for its attacks on international students, excluding high-profile cases where the students were also detained. This particular response was to a lawsuit brought by four students from the University of Michigan and Wayne State University who lost their F-1 student statuses. So far, at least 50 students have sued across 16 lawsuits, according to an Inside Higher Ed review of court records.”
Conflicts Over Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Get a weekly summary of news items that affect the public service legal community, with an emphasis on funding, job market, law school initiatives, and access-to-justice developments.
