Public Employees’ Speech Rights Curtailed

But justices say ruling could differ for a case on academic freedom.

Speech by government employees in the course of their job duties is not protected by the First Amendment from disciplinary action, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week, in a 5-4 decision that critics fear could muzzle “whistleblowers” who ferret out government waste and wrongdoing.

The case was being watched closely by education law experts for its potential impact on teachers in public schools and colleges. But the court’s majority drew a significant distinction between most forms of job-related speech by public workers and that which might affect academic freedom.

“We need not, and for that reason do not, decide whether the analysis we conduct today would apply in the same manner to a case involving speech related to scholarship or teaching,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in Garcetti v. Ceballos ...