Federal Court Hearing Monday on ACLU Challenge to Rules Banning Court Administrative Employees from Broad Range of Political Speech

 

CONTACT: media@acludc.org

 

WHAT:

 

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will hear arguments from the ACLU of the District of Columbia on Monday, July 16 about temporarily halting new rules barring employees of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) from engaging in a broad range of political speech and activity.

 

The hearing on the ACLU-DC’s motion for a preliminary injunction is part of a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of the District of Columbia in May after the AOUSC implemented rules in March that bar employees from activities including posting about political candidates on social media; attending or organizing events for partisan candidates; displaying political lawn signs at home or wearing political badges or buttons off-duty; attending party conventions or meetings; joining a political party (except to register to vote); or contributing money to a political party or candidate. AOUSC employees perform administrative tasks in support of the federal judiciary — like case management, information technology services, human resources, facilities management, workload assessment, and overnight and training of federal public defenders — but do not have any involvement in the process of deciding concrete cases before a judge.

 

The new AOUSC restrictions are stricter than those applicable to FBI agents, CIA intelligence analysts, federal prosecutors, and staff of the Federal Election Commission. ACLU-DC’s complaint noted that while Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III could legally contribute funds to President Trump’s primary or general-election challengers for reelection, an AOUSC facilities manager cannot under the new rules. The ACLU-DC challenged the new rules on behalf of two AOUSC employees, one of whom oversees federal public defender and related programs and one of whom works in information technology.

 

WHO:

Scott Michelman, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU-DC, will appear before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper

 

WHEN:

Monday, July 16, 2:30 p.m.

 

WHERE:

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Room 27A

E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse

333 Constitution Avenue NW

Washington, D.C.

 

All documents filed in the case are here: