Federal Union, Employees Sue USDA Over Christian Emails

Federal employees and their union have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the Department of Agriculture, alleging that a series of emails promoting Christian beliefs violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause and federal law.

The complaint, filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accuses Rollins of sending increasingly proselytizing messages to the entire USDA workforce. Plaintiffs include the National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents more than 19,000 USDA staff among its 110,000 members, and seven individual employees of varied faiths and no faith, including Jewish, Buddhist, pagan and atheist workers. The suit was brought with support from legal groups Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Democracy Forward Foundation and Bryan Schwartz Law.

At issue is a pattern of communications that the plaintiffs describe as coercive, given Rollins's authority over subordinates. The complaint highlights an April 5 Easter email sent to all staff, which stated, "Today, we celebrate the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all...