US federal agencies remove political essay prompt from job applications

Federal agencies are removing a controversial political screening prompt from government job portals following a ruling by Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., who found the requirement likely unconstitutional. The prompt, introduced by the Trump administration in May 2025, required applicants to explain how they would advance the president’s agenda and name favorite executive orders.

While the Department of Justice confirmed that human resources departments can no longer include the political essay in new job announcements, approximately 6,000 active listings still feature the requirement. Officials have stated that manually deleting the text from existing postings would disrupt the entire hiring system. Consequently, the government has ordered agencies to ignore any submitted answers to the old prompt.

A revised prompt has been introduced, asking candidates to describe a time they followed leadership directions that differed from their personal recommendations.