Seven employees of the Department of Agriculture and a federal employees' union filed suit yesterday against the Department and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins contending that:
[The Secretary] has adopted a practice of sending increasingly proselytizing communications to the entire USDA workforce, promoting her own preferred brand of Christian beliefs and theology to the captive audience of employees that report to her, directly or indirectly.
The complaint (full text) in National Federation of Federal Employees v. Rollins, (ND CA, filed 5/13/2026), alleges that the Secretary's communications to employees, particularly her highly religious 2026 Easter Message, violate the Establishment Clause. The complaint alleges in part:
52. Individual Plaintiffs feel that the Secretary is pressuring them to believe in her faith or act as if they share the same faith as the Secretary. Given the Secretary’s clear religious preference, Individual Plaintiffs feel intimidated from expressing their own beliefs at work and compelled to shape their behavior accordingly and hide their own beliefs.
53. Individual Plaintiffs fear being singled out and disfavored for not being religious, not believing in the brand of Christianity that the Secretary espouses, or for having a different religion....
54. Individual Plaintiffs also fear retaliation for objecting to the Secretary’s preaching from the public office that she occupies.
Democracy Forward issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
