GOVERNMENT GAGGED: THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF EMPLOYEE WHISTLEBLOWERS

Join Maurer's American Constitution Society, Public Interest Law Foundation, Plaintiff's Law Association, and FedSoc for a conversation on what public employees can and cannot say with speaker Frank LaMonte.

Rules and policies that forbid public employees from speaking about their work are pervasive across all levels of government, from Cabinet-level agencies down to the smallest local school district. While commonplace, these restrictions exist under a dark cloud of constitutional doubt. Decades worth of First Amendment caselaw establishes that public employers cannot gag their employees from sharing information and expertise gathered at work. What rights do public-sector workers have, where do First Amendment freedoms give way to employers’ authority to maintain order, and how is the public affected when government employees are restrained from speaking freely?