DT wants to muzzle them but govt. employees have broad freedom of speech rights.
DT loves to make wives and employees sign non-disclosure agreements -- but government employees have free speech rights.
http://www.salon.com/2017/01/24/donald-trump-is-already-trying-to-muzzle-leakers-but-government-employees-have-broad-free-speech-rights/#.WIfn1MH483I.twitter
Monday afternoon, before that story broke, I spoke on the phone with Orly Lobel, a law professor at the University of San Diego who has done significant research about employees’ speech right and the practice of using nondisclosure agreements and written the book “Talent Wants to Be Free: Why We Should Learn to Love Leaks, Raids, and Free Riding.”
The first thing Lobel emphasized to me was that Trump cannot legally force federal employees to sign nondisclosure agreements. That said, the government does enjoy some rights to muzzle employees — but, she noted, strong legal limits exist on how much silence the executive branch can require. Government employees enjoy broader rights to speak out than Trump traditionally prefers when it comes to those who work with him.
“They’re civil servants and they’re bound by the rules of keeping confidential information and not exposing government secrets to the public, but that is all balanced by the right to speech,” Lobel explained.
Even though the Supreme Court found in 2006 that government employees can be barred from sharing work-related information with the general public, “all the justices agree there’s a violation of your First Amendment rights if it’s a matter of public concern and if you’re speaking externally” in public venues, Lobel noted.
