A legal battle is unfolding over essay questions added to thousands of federal job applications, and the outcome could affect how the civil service is staffed for years to come.
What the Questions Ask
Under the Trump administration’s Merit Hiring Plan, released in May 2025, agencies are required to include four open-ended essay questions on applications for federal jobs at the GS-5 level and above. The most controversial of the four asks candidates how they would “advance the president’s executive orders and policy priorities,” and to identify one or two executive orders or policy initiatives that are significant to them.
Federal employee unions quickly labeled it a loyalty question, arguing it has nothing to do with a candidate’s ability to perform a job and everything to do with their political alignment.
What OPM Says
OPM has maintained that the essays are optional for applicants. The agency’s guidance states the questions should not serve as an ideological litmus test, that responses will not be scored or ranked, and that candidates will not be disqualified for leaving them blank. OPM Director Scott Kupor has described the questions as an opportunity for candidates to provide additional context about themselves and their dedication to public service.
What Is Actually Happening
New court filings tell a different story. An attorney representing the plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuit recently went through the application process for several federal job openings and found that in each case, the essay questions were marked as required fields with a red asterisk. The application system would not allow submission without a completed response.
OPM acknowledged the discrepancy, explaining that the default setting in USA Staffing, its talent acquisition platform, does not require the questions. But agencies can manually change that setting, and apparently many have. When asked about agencies requiring the questions contrary to OPM guidance, an OPM official said simply, “That’s not our decision.”
The essay questions have now appeared on approximately 33,000 federal job postings, about a quarter of all applications with questionnaires posted since the Merit Hiring Plan launched. In March and April of this year alone, 16,000 new postings included the question, effectively doubling the total in just two months.
The concentration is heaviest at certain agencies. Nearly 75% of job postings from the Justice Department and Energy Department include the question, and the rate approaches 100% at the Labor Department.
The Legal Challenge
Three major federal employee unions, the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and the National Association of Government Employees, filed suit in federal court in Massachusetts last fall. The case, AFGE v. Kupor, argues the loyalty question violates the First Amendment by compelling speech, chilling speech, and facilitating viewpoint discrimination. The unions also argue that it violates the Privacy Act by collecting information about applicants’ political beliefs that is irrelevant to job performance.
The unions have asked U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the questions from appearing on applications. As of this writing, the judge has not yet ruled on that request.
