Grand Theft America / Receipt power-2025-05-29-003
OPM adds a loyalty essay to federal hiring
OPM Merit Hiring Plan adds four essay questions, one of them on advancing the President's executive orders. Agencies must ask; answers unscored per OPM's guidance to agencies.
What happened
OPM told agencies the answers are “not scored or rated,” and its applicant-facing language says responses “are not required and will not be scored.” Court filings in April 2026 alleged applicants were nonetheless unable to submit applications with the essay fields left blank. On April 30, 2026 OPM issued further guidance directing agencies that responses “must not be marked as required” and that applicants “must be allowed to complete the application without answering” the questions.
Why it matters
Career officials are one of the few internal checks on an unlawful or purely political order. Removing them makes refusal less likely the next time. It is tracked here under “Impose loyalty screenings in hiring”; the classification describes the documented institutional risk, not a claim about motive.
Receipt details
- Phase 1
- Purge the people who'd say no
- Impose loyalty screenings in hiring
