Moore v. Schlesinger

**Moore v. Schlesinger: Court Protects Government Lawyers from Employee Lawsuits** This case involved a federal employee who sued the U.S. government and its attorneys, claiming civil rights violations, racketeering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. The employee appears to have alleged that government lawyers engaged in misconduct while defending the government in court proceedings. The court dismissed the entire lawsuit. The judge ruled that assistant U.S. attorneys have "absolute immunity" when they're defending the government in civil court cases. This means these lawyers cannot be sued for damages for actions they take that are closely connected to court proceedings, even if someone claims those actions were wrong or harmful. **What this means for workers:** This ruling makes it very difficult for government employees to successfully sue federal prosecutors and government attorneys who represent the government in employment disputes. If you're a federal worker who believes government lawyers acted improperly while defending against your lawsuit, you likely cannot seek money damages from those attorneys personally. However, this doesn't prevent you from pursuing claims against the government itself as an employer. The protection only applies to the individual lawyers' actions during litigation, not to underlying employment violations by the government agency.