Teachers Union Anti-Trump Lawfare Cases Have Little Connection to K-12 Public School Education

After President Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term in January, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten asserted she was “really sad” about the inaugural speech. 

“Rather than unifying people and building on America’s best qualities, Trump delivered a speech that was laden with divisiveness, showing that he is the president of only some Americans,” Weingarten said in an inauguration day statement.

“Those of us in the labor movement and in public education are fighting for opportunity and dignity for all Americans.” 

Perhaps not surprisingly, the AFT—one of America’s largest public school teachers unions—has participated in a deluge of lawsuits against the Trump administration policies. What’s more interesting is that several of the legal actions are seemingly at most education-adjacent, and in other cases have little or nothing to do with K-12 public education. 

The AFT has sued regarding federal employees, immigration, and student loans for college students. 

The AFT began as exclusively a teachers union, but has six separate divisions that also represents other public school employees such as teacher aides, custodians, and bus drivers, as well as health care workers and higher education faculty. The union’s website says it also represents public employees that includes federal and state employees. 

“The AFT’s lawsuit spree against the Trump administration reveals what we’ve long known: these organizations have strayed far from their mission of representing teachers,” Aaron Withe, president of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a conservative education group, told The Daily Signal. “This is exactly why so many teachers are choosing to opt out—they want representation focused on their profession, not a political action committee.”

The litigation that is unrelated or only loosely connected to education includes: 

• In October, the AFT joined other labor unions in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s plans for mass firing of federal employees during the government shutdown. The lawsuit alleged it was illegal to fire furloughed government workers. Weingarten asserted in October that Trump wanted to “illegally fire tens of thousands of federal employees in a callous act of political retribution.”

• In October, the AFT joined a legal action opposing a Department of Transportation rule that prevented certain immigrants from getting a commercial driver’s license, in some cases even if the individuals have authorization to work in the United States. Weingarten asserted, “For the Trump administration, the cruelty is the point.” Though she did note the relevance for the union, asserting, “Many AFT members require a CDL to work as school bus drivers—and right now we are seeing people turned away from training for these positions.”

• In the case of American Federation of Teachers et al v. Bessent, in Scott Bessent’s role as treasury secretary, the union sued the Treasury Department, the Office of Personnel Management, as well as the Department of Education to stop the White House Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data on federal employees. A district judge imposed an injunction on the administration from collecting the data, but the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the injunction in August. While the AFT opposes DOGE on policy—and the Education Department was one of the defendants—public school teachers are not federal employees.   

• Another case—American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO v. Goldstein—also revolved around the federal workforce. It challenged a Trump executive order to reduce the federal bureaucracy. Specifically, the plaintiffs sued over the provision of the order that called for the gradual elimination of the the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The defendants in the case were the FMCS, and the Office of Management and Budget. Gregory Goldstein was named the lead defendant in his role as acting director of the FMCS. The case is still pending.

• The cases of AFT v. Department of Education is about student loans, which is for higher education. The union sued to protect student loan borrowers in an income-driven repayment plan, which has more to do with higher education than k-12. 

The nation’s other large teachers union–the National Education Association–has not shied away from challenging the Trump administration in court either. But the litigation seems to go in fewer direction. The NEA is the lead plaintiff in one case against the Trump administration, this one regarding race-based admissions in higher education. It was also part of a coalition that sued to stop the dismantling of the Education Department, which at least could be related to k-12.

As The Daily Signal previously reported, both the NEA and AFT participated in “No Kings” protests opposed to Trump administration policies. 

The AFT did not respond to phone and email inquiries from The Daily Signal for comment.

Withe, of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, said such litigation should give AFT members pause. 

“The question every AFT member should be asking is: how does suing over federal employment commission matters or treasury regulations help me as a teacher?” Withe added. “The answer is it doesn’t. It serves the union’s leftist political agenda while diverting resources away from actual teachers.”

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