It’s tough to ignore the threats to our democracy right now. From blanket pardons for Jan. 6 insurrectionists to cabinet picks chosen for loyalty instead of expertise, President Donald Trump’s second term is already pushing — and at times demolishing — the guardrails of our political system.
Yet Americans should also pay attention to another, less sensational target of the president’s anti-democratic agenda: the federal civil service.
We speak from experience. As political appointees to the U.S. Department of Justice during the Biden-Harris administration, we worked closely with career civil servants who stay on regardless of who’s in the White House.
Though tensions can arise between political appointees driving an administration’s agenda and nonpartisan colleagues providing continuity, we came to respect our civil servant colleagues for their professionalism and dedication to the American people.
Rather than small-scale tweaks, the Trump administration’s attacks on civil service protections, impartial expertise, and diversity programs represent a broader move to reshape government in Trump’s image. Undermining committed public servants weakens the rule of law, threatens equal protection, and erodes the self-governing principles that have long anchored our Republic.
Jobs based on merit curb corruption, improve service
The U.S. civil service wasn’t always merit-based. In the 19th century, presidents doled out jobs as favors, culminating in President James Garfield’s 1881 assassination by a disgruntled office-seeker. Public outrage spurred the Pendleton Act of 1883, establishing a professional workforce chosen for competence rather than partisan loyalty—a reform that curbed corruption and better served Americans.
Today, roughly two million career staff — from USDA inspectors ensuring safe food to NASA scientists exploring space and FBI agents protecting national security — adapt to the priorities of new administrations. Research shows that agencies with strong career staffing are more responsive, less corrupt, and enjoy higher public trust. In short, they provide stability amid political shifts.
They also advance an inclusive society. For decades, these employees have enforced anti-discrimination laws, administered safety programs, and broadened opportunities, whether tackling workplace bias, providing fair housing, issuing patents, or overseeing vital benefits like Social Security and Medicare. By ensuring equal treatment, they uphold a government that serves everyone.
Within his first week in office, Trump moved to consolidate personal power by targeting the civil service — one of the largest, nonpartisan checks on executive overreach. At the center is Schedule F, which revives a spoils-like system and removes established merit safeguards. The administration has already fired career Justice Department attorneys who enforced immigration laws or prosecuted the president’s alleged wrongdoing, ousting them for doing their jobs.
Trump also dangled an offer to let all federal employees quit by Feb. 6 while receiving paychecks, a move meant to drain agencies of expertise. When objective advice is purged, government cannot function effectively.
Speak out and champion civil servants
Essential services hang in the balance. Environmental scientists keep our air and water safe, Veterans Administration doctors care for veterans, and Social Security staff support retirees. If unqualified loyalists replace skilled professionals, the public faces substandard care, contamination, and a deeper distrust in our democracy.
Meanwhile, executive orders dismantling anti-discrimination measures undercut the civil service’s mission to protect equal rights. Without unbiased civil servants enforcing voting protections or administering subsidies, progress toward inclusion grinds to a halt. A government serving a single leader’s interests above all else fails its core responsibility: defending the rights and dignity of all citizens.
Trump’s criticisms about government inefficiency resonate with Americans who’ve wrestled with bureaucratic snarls. But firing career experts, politicizing hiring, and dismissing DEI doesn’t fix these issues — it destroys the norms that keep government accountable and effective.
Real solutions include stronger performance management, rewarding innovation, and using data-driven approaches to streamline public services. A workforce chosen for loyalty rather than merit erodes trust; history shows that when “yes men” fill government ranks, corruption flourishes, and public confidence collapses.
Instead of gutting the civil service and reversing anti-discrimination gains, we should strengthen it to be more responsive and equitable. Congress can clarify job protections while allowing dynamic performance management. We also need renewed efforts to diversify the federal workforce, because a civil service that reflects America’s varied communities serves everyone more fairly. Finally, we must adopt transparent accountability measures that reveal genuine inefficiency rather than punish perceived disloyalty.
By attacking the professional workforce and its safeguards, the Trump administration risks turning a cornerstone of democratic governance into a partisan tool. Lawmakers, advocacy groups, and citizens must refuse to let these attacks stand. Speak out against purges and champion civil servants who serve all Americans. Defending an unbiased civil service preserves the vital link between “we the people” and a government truly of, by, and for us all — a government essential to safeguarding democracy and our pursuit of a more perfect union.
Omar H. Noureldin is a democracy fellow at the University of Chicago Center for Effective Government. Mikael Rojas is counsel at the employment and civil rights law firm Outten & Golden LLP. Both were political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Biden-Harris administration.
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