Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a pregnancy resource center network and an organization of Christian employers filed a motion Thursday to intervene in Samuels v. Trump for the purpose of protecting the authority of a U.S. president to direct executive branch policy and thus to fire senior federal officials who reach their position of authority by presidential appointment.
In the case, a former federal official and agency head is suing the Trump administration after the president fired her for refusing to follow an executive order that calls for the federal government to end harmful gender-identity policies. ADF attorneys explain in the motion that the Constitution requires that the president be able to set policy for the executive branch and thus to terminate the employment of federal officials who impose harmful gender-identity mandates.
“Government officials are appointed to serve the people of America, not impose their divisive ideologies,” said ADF Senior Counsel Julie Marie Blake. “Commissioner Samuels has a history of defying constitutional authority in favor of her agenda, and executive oversight allows the president to supervise and remove officers of the executive branch. We believe the court should hear from employers who benefit from President Trump’s actions, which is why we are urging the court to allow them to intervene.”
In 2024, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member Jocelyn Samuels voted to impose policies that misinterpret Title VII and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which force employers to facilitate and promote gender-identity ideology and abortion procedures. Shortly after, Trump signed relevant executive orders on Inauguration Day that Samuels refused to follow, leading to her job termination.
Christian Employers Alliance, represented by ADF attorneys, sued to challenge the EEOC mandates in January 2025. CEA and Choices Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix are now asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to let them intervene in the case to keep Samuels from regaining her job and imposing illegal policies that burden their religious beliefs.
