Supreme Court: 1st Amend. protects speech on matters of public concern outside workplace

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel David Hacker regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision Thursday in Lane v. Franks, which affirmed that the First Amendment protects the speech of public employees outside the workplace on matters of public concern:

“No one should be fired or suffer other kinds of retaliation for speech outside the workplace, especially when that person is testifying truthfully in court, as Mr. Lane was. We see all too often that public universities and colleges place political litmus tests on employees. But as the Supreme Court has affirmed once again, Americans do not lose their First Amendment freedoms when they accept a government job.”

Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

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