First Amendment Accountability Act

This proposal would let people take a federal executive branch employee to court if that employee used their government role to violate someone’s free speech, religion, press, assembly, or petition rights under the First Amendment. It does not cover the President or Vice President. A court could also make the losing side (other than the United States) pay the winning party’s reasonable attorney’s fees.

Key points:

• Who is affected: People whose First Amendment rights are violated by a federal executive branch employee; federal employees in executive agencies (not including the President or Vice President).
• What changes: Creates a clear right to sue the individual federal employee for First Amendment violations and allows courts to award attorney’s fees to the winning party (other than the United States).
• Limits: Federal employees cannot use this law to sue their federal employer or the federal government for actions within the job relationship. If any part of the law is struck down, the rest would still stand.