Oregon Attorney General Backs Unions In Court Fight Against Trump Executive Order

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield confirmed yesterday that the state is standing with Labour Unions in a multi-state coalition of attorneys general in a legal fight to protect union workers’ First Amendment bargaining rights, after a President Trump Executive Order (EO) stripped these away from unions he deems hostile.

Oregon AG Rayfield Joins Lawsuit To Support Oregonians’ Right To Organize

The multi-state coalition filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of unions for federal government employees on Friday.

The lawsuit, AFGE v. Trump, No. 25-4014 (CA9), challenges the March 27  Executive Order from the Trump Administration targeting unions deemed “hostile” to Trump’s policy agenda, stripping federal employees of their collective bargaining rights under the veil of supposed national security concerns.

Attorney General Rayfield said, “The right to engage in union activity is protected by the First Amendment.”

The Plaintiff unions sought and obtained a preliminary injunction in the district court earlier this year, which the Trump Administration is now appealing. The coalition supports the unions’ preliminary injunction and argues that the EO is not exempt from scrutiny just because it invokes national security.

Rayfield said the Administration wants to reshape the American economy to work for billionaires, not for the people, and unions, the voice of working people. Both are a critical backstop for American democracy and the economy.

The brief also highlights that the EO contradicted the First Amendment, pointing out that circumstantial evidence supports the district court’s conclusion that the executive order was retaliation.