Urgent: Take Action to Protect Public Services
Act now to defend the integrity of our civil service from the dangerous Schedule F proposal!
MARCH 23 UPDATE: The comment period has been extended until June 7. Please keep submitting comments! (Thanks to the reader who hipped me to this.)
I have something you can do in five minutes or less that can help salvage the integrity of the federal civil service, from the people who regulate food safety to the people who determine what scientific research has merit. Please take a few minutes to read on.
If you’ve been following me on Bluesky, then you know I’ve been pretty worried about Schedule F since the election in November. In a time of catastrophe for what elements of democracy exist in the United States, Schedule F is one of the systemic changes that frightens me the most.
What’s Schedule F? It’s a proposal by the Trump Administration to remove safeguards that ensure federal civil servants are a politically independent body. Imagine the career civil servants who safeguard drinking water being selected by Nestlé after they’ve paid for a fancy dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Imagine Chevron choosing the clean air regulators at EPA after they’ve made a big donation to JD Vance. Schedule F is a fucking disaster. If you want to read in detail about the history of the political independence of the civil service and why Schedule F is dangerous, my favorite rundown is from Marketplace: How could the return of Trump-era “Schedule F” job appointments reshape the federal workforce?
You can do something about this! In five minutes or less! Deadline: May 23!
A policy proposal like this has a public comment period, where the policy is made public and people can submit comments, which means you have an opportunity to tell the government exactly why you think about this terrible idea. University of Michigan Policy Professor Don Moynihan has helpfully written a run-down on how to do this and why you should.
You can submit a comment here. (Make sure your VPN is off because the site doesn’t like it.) And to follow on Don’s helpful suggestions, I’m here to add a little extra help: a comment you can submit if you don’t know what to say.
This comment was shared with me by a friend who understands the law, and you’re welcome to cut and paste and add your own flourishes to it.
1. I oppose this proposed rule in its entirety, and every section of the proposed rule, as it allows for the reintroduction of a "spoils" system to the federal civil service. The proposed rule allows any given Administration to replace the nation's professional cadre of policy experts who serve the Constitution across Administrations with individuals who subordinate their duty to the Constitution and the law to partisan loyalties.
2. I oppose the creation of the Schedule Policy/Career as a new category of Excepted Service under 5 CFR Part 213. Moving career civil servants into a category of at-will employment makes those civil service positions vulnerable to political manipulation and influence, including by putting those employees at risk of termination should their efforts to uphold the federal oath of employment to defend the Constitution conflict with a political appointee's belief that the employee has failed to "faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability," as required under the proposed amendment to Sec. 213.3501(b).
3. I oppose the amendment of 5 CFR part 752 that removes the right of career civil servants to appeal the transfer of their position into an Excepted Service category, including the proposed Schedule Policy/Career category. The removal of such protection violates the Fifth Amendment due process rights of federal civil servants, specifically by removing the employees' interest in their tenure protections. See Cleveland Bd. of Educ. v. Loudermill, 70 U.S. 532, 541 (1985).
4. The proposed amendments to 5 CFR Part 213 and 5 CFR part 752 are, additionally, contrary to Congress's intent to create a merit-based civil service free from undue partisan political influence, in accordance with the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and the Civil Service Due Process Amendments Act of 1990. Congress has determined that an effective and efficient federal civil service must be protected from partisan and improper influences. The current Excepted Services categories are intentionally limited and narrow in scope to properly carry out Congress's intent. OPM may not choose to disregard Congressional mandates in the manner proposed in this rule.
That’s it. That’s the comment. And that’s the newsletter. I have plenty more to say about things like “See Sinners!” “Stay until the end of the credits!” and “Particle physics and cosmology are a public good!” and “Restore NIH everything including cancer trials so people don’t die for no good fucking reason,” but for now, here is an action you can take: protect the integrity of our civil service.