Employees sue USDA, Brooke Rollins over ‘proselytizing’ Christian-themed emails
May 21, 2026
Employees with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have filed a lawsuit alleging that Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution by sending emails with overtly Christian content.
The Christian Post reports that the lawsuit, filed May 13 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Rollins “has engaged in an escalating pattern of subjecting all USDA employees to proselytizing Christian messaging promulgated from her position of authority.”
The lawsuit states: “She 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, filed on behalf of the National Federation of Federal Employees and seven USDA workers, accuses Rollins of “evangelizing” through all-staff emails sent to the agency’s roughly 90,000 employees.
According to the Christian Post, the complainants allege the proselytizing began last year with all-staff emails referring to God on the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.
Rollins is accused of “dramatically escalated her religious sermonizing in a Christmas message” in a video sent to USDA employees on Dec. 23, 2025, in which she said: The spirit of generosity flows from the very first Christmas when God gave us the greatest gift possible, the gift of his Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, who came to free us from our sins and open the door to eternal life.”
The lawsuit also refers to an April 5 email, which is described as an “Easter sermon” in which Rollins proclaimed: “He is Risen, indeed!” and went on to offer an explicitly Christian message, describing Jesus Christ as “our risen Lord” and the Resurrection as “the greatest story ever told, the foundation of our faith, and the abiding hope of all mankind.”
In addition to a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit alleges that the messages also violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
The litigation asks the court to declare Rollins’ messages unconstitutional and to permanently enjoin her and the USDA from sending such messages in the future.
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