Merit-based hiring
Recruitment and advancement grounded in skill and performance ensures agencies are led by qualified professionals.
Merit Service Advocates
Founded by a former Vice Chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board and a federal career executive with over 30 years of public service experience.
Government should serve the people—not political interests.
We protect, promote, and preserve an independent merit-based civil service, defend public servants from political interference, and explain why attacks on the civil service affect everyday Americans through services, trust, national security, and collective wellbeing.
Nonpartisan
Focused on institutional integrity and good government.
Evidence-led
Grounded in law, policy, and civic education.
Public trust
Protecting continuity for the public we serve.
Continuity & Expertise
A career civil service keeps programs stable, lawful, and responsive.
Core Principles
Protecting qualified public servants and the integrity of government
Six commitments that defend merit-based service, due process, and trustworthy governance for the public good.
Protection from interference
Public servants deserve independence from political pressure so expertise guides decisions and services.
Due process and fairness
Clear, lawful procedures protect employees’ rights and reinforce confidence in public institutions.
Public trust and transparency
Open standards and accountable oversight help the public see that decisions serve the common good.
Civic-minded careers
We encourage talented people to serve with integrity, strengthening communities and public outcomes.
Accountable modern governance
Professional standards, evidence-based practice, and oversight keep government effective and responsive.
Our Mission
Merit Service Advocates defends the principle that government should serve the public, not political interests.
American democracy is strongest when public institutions are guided by professionalism, law, and the public good. We protect and promote an independent, merit-based civil service.
When that system is undermined, Americans feel the costs through lost services, eroded trust, and greater risks to national security and collective wellbeing. We keep the public informed about what is at stake and the safeguards that sustain continuity.
Through credible, civic-minded advocacy, we strengthen respect for career public servants and reinforce the institutional integrity democracy requires.
Our four pillars
- Inform & Educate — deliver clear, nonpartisan resources on the legal foundations and public value of a merit-based civil service.
- Empower Public Servants — elevate protections, norms, and professional standards that help federal employees serve with integrity.
- Inspire the Next Generation — champion civic service as a trusted, mission-driven career path for future leaders.
- Partner with good-government organizations to build high-performing, merit-based workforces for modern governance.
Leadership
Meet the Founder
Raymond Limon, Founder of MSA, LLC
Raymond Limon brings more than 30 years of frontline federal experience to his work as Founder of Merit Service Advocates, LLC. His career spans some of the most consequential human capital and governance roles in the federal government, giving him a ground-level understanding of how merit-based systems work — and what happens when they are undermined.
Mr. Limon served as Vice Chairman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), the independent agency responsible for protecting federal employees from prohibited personnel practices and ensuring the integrity of the civil service merit system. In that role, he presided over appeals and defended the due process rights of career public servants.
Prior to the MSPB, he held senior career executive human capital and legal positions at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Department of State, and the Corporation for National and Community Service — building expertise across legal and regulatory compliance, workforce governance, and organizational leadership.
Mr. Limon earned his J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras — an early expression of a lifelong commitment to public service and civic responsibility.
He founded Merit Service Advocates to channel that experience into public education and advocacy at a moment when the civil service faces extraordinary pressure. His work is nonpartisan, evidence-grounded, and rooted in the belief that government institutions — and the people who serve in them — are worth defending.
- Expertise
- Compliance, governance, leadership
- Public Service
- Senior federal executive (30+ years)
Founder statement
“Public service is a public trust. We protect the integrity of government by defending the merit system, ensuring fairness, and preserving continuity so institutions can serve the people above politics.”
Impact highlights
Merit service that protects the public interest
Merit Service Advocates emphasizes a professional civil service that keeps essential services reliable, decisions evidence-based, and safeguards intact. These highlights reflect public impact grounded in nonpartisan expertise, lawful process, and long-term stewardship.
Reliable services
Communities depend on consistent delivery of public services regardless of political shifts or leadership changes.
Public service continuity
Stable institutions keep benefits, safety, and administrative services working when the public needs them most.
Independent expertise
Career professionals bring specialized knowledge that supports sound policy and effective implementation.
Due process safeguards
Clear legal standards and oversight help protect rights, ensure fairness, and prevent misuse of authority.
Future public servants
Cultivating civic-minded talent strengthens the next generation of trusted, mission-driven public service.
Common questions
Clear answers about merit-based public service
These concise responses explain why professional civil service matters, how it supports the public, and what history teaches us about protecting institutional continuity.
Civic education
Nonpartisan
Professionalism
Independent, merit-based staffing helps keep public services reliable—whether processing benefits, inspecting food safety, or responding to disasters—so decisions are based on law and expertise, not politics.
It can weaken continuity, reduce expertise, and create pressure on agencies to favor short-term interests over consistent enforcement, public health, and safe, efficient services.
Most career employees have protections against improper personnel actions, the right to fair evaluation, and channels to report misconduct or discrimination. Specific rules vary by role and agency.
Due process helps ensure decisions are fair, evidence-based, and consistent with law. It protects both employees and the public by promoting accountability and professional standards.
A spoils system fills jobs based on political loyalty after elections. Merit service hires and promotes based on qualifications and performance, reducing favoritism and improving stability.
Public service offers meaningful work that safeguards health, safety, and opportunity. A strong merit system keeps those careers open to talent and strengthens trust in government over time.
MSA Tracker
Updated Regularly
MSA Tracker: OPM & MSPB Issues
A concise record of major personnel actions, policy shifts, and institutional developments affecting the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Follow the updates that shape civil service oversight, continuity, and administration.
MSA Tracker
Why This Tracker Exists
The Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management are the two pillars of federal civil service integrity. The MSPB adjudicates employee appeals and defends merit principles. OPM sets the rules that govern how the federal workforce is hired, managed, and protected. When either institution is compromised — through staffing cuts, political appointments, or policy reversals — the consequences ripple across every federal agency and every American who depends on public services. MSA monitors these developments so the public stays informed.
Integrity at the center
This tracker focuses on the institutions that safeguard merit-based hiring, fair process, and continuity of public service.
Public impact, made visible
By documenting staffing, policy, and leadership changes, MSA helps the public see how governance decisions affect services and rights.
Ongoing accountability
We publish developments in one place so advocates, researchers, and civil servants can respond with clarity and confidence.
MSA Tracker
How to Use This Resource
Practical guidance for reading, sharing, and applying each entry responsibly.
1
Stay Current
Check back regularly for new entries as developments unfold.
2
Share It
Forward entries to colleagues, journalists, or elected officials who need to understand what's at stake.
3
Context Matters
Each entry includes background on why the issue matters to the public and to federal employees.
Tracked Issues
Tracked Issues
These are current, tracked issues that shape the merit system and the professional federal civil service. Each entry summarizes a significant action or policy development with implications for public service protections. These entries are a small set of examples; the full tracker is available for download further below on this page.
February 10, 2025 – Ongoing
MSPB
Harris v. Bessent — MSPB Chair Removal Heads to Supreme Court
President Trump fired Senate-confirmed MSPB Chair Cathy Harris via a one-line email with no stated cause, nearly three years before her term ended. Conflicting rulings in the D.C. Circuit have now sent the case to the Supreme Court, which previously stayed her reinstatement. The outcome could redefine whether independent agency members can be removed at will, threatening the MSPB's constitutional foundation and its ability to protect federal employees from unlawful personnel actions.
February 10, 2026 – Ongoing
OPM
OPM Moves to Strip MSPB Jurisdiction Over RIF Appeals
A February 2026 OPM proposed rule would move all Reduction-in-Force appeals away from the independent MSPB and into OPM's internal unit. There, paralegals would decide cases on a written record with no hearing rights. OPM would both write the RIF rules and adjudicate disputes under them, while explicitly superseding collective bargaining agreement protections. The public comment period closed March 12, 2026.
March 2026 – Federal Circuit Appeal Pending
MSPB
Jackler/Jaroch — Immigration Judges Stripped of Civil Service Protections
The MSPB Full Board ruled that career immigration judges are "inferior officers" under Article II and therefore exempt from standard civil service removal protections. The decision strips hundreds of judges of due-process rights retroactively, without a pre-termination hearing. It relied on a DOJ/OLC memo, raising conflict-of-interest concerns because OLC advises the agency that fired the judges. A Federal Circuit appeal is pending on six identified grounds, including improper retroactive nullification of vested statutory rights.
Tracker updated March 2026. New entries added as developments occur.
MSA Tracker
Download the Full Tracker
The complete MSA Tracker is available as a PDF document updated regularly. Download the latest version or subscribe to the Tracker to receive updates directly.
Publication-ready briefing
Updated releases, official sources, and annotated notes for researchers and public servants.
The latest tracker PDF is available now and updated with each release.
Proposal Initiative
Merit Service Justice Clinic
A law school clinical program initiative for practical, mission-driven public service training.
This proposal offers a practical, low-cost framework for law schools to expand existing clinics into federal civil service and merit system representation—building on current capacity without new infrastructure or major capital investment.
Program Snapshot
Designed to fit within established clinical models, the Justice Clinic initiative equips students to serve federal employees and agencies with professionalism, due process, and integrity.
Integrates seamlessly with administrative, employment, civil rights, and veterans’ clinics.
Supports federal merit system representation and agency accountability work.
Creates a pipeline for service-ready graduates and public interest leadership.
What it is
A blueprint for law schools to augment existing clinics—administrative law, employment, civil rights, or veterans’ rights—with a dedicated federal merit system practice area, requiring no new infrastructure or major capital investment.
Who it’s for
Law school deans, clinical directors, public interest faculty, and legal education administrators seeking to differentiate programs, serve a growing client population, and prepare graduates for public service careers.
Why it matters now
More than 8,000 federal attorneys have left government since January 2025, creating a generational rupture in institutional legal capacity. Agencies and oversight bodies will need trained practitioners to rebuild.
There is currently no law school clinic in the United States dedicated specifically to federal merit system and civil service law. This initiative is designed to change that—one existing clinic at a time.
Download the full proposal below, and use the contact information on this page if your institution wants to explore a partnership.
Download the full proposalContact
Get in touch with Merit Service Advocates
We welcome inquiries from partners, media, researchers, and civic organizations interested in collaboration, speaking engagements, or learning more about protecting a professional, merit-based civil service.