Federal worker unions late Thursday filed a suit challenging the Trump administration’s inclusion of a so-called loyalty question in a set of prompts to be answered by prospective employees.

The new question “essentially establishes a system of unconstitutional political patronage,” they argue, while “allowing the Trump Administration to weed out those who do not voice sufficient support for President Trump and reward those who do.”

The American Federation of Government Employees, which brought the suit in conjunction with Democracy Forward, argues that the question undermines the cornerstone of a “career civil service based on merit, not political loyalty.”

“For many Americans who aspire to serve in this country’s nonpartisan, merit-based civil service, being required to express a view in support of the........

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