• JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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    6 hours ago

    Man I hate to look like I’m siding with Patel here…but “Congress shall make no law”. Not a second amendment issue, because Patel isn’t making a law or sitting in Congress.

    But, federal jobs usually aren’t at-will and usually protected against wrongful termination by civil service laws.

    But, while he could fight it, the courts aren’t exactly in his favor right now.

    • jfrnz@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      At-will employment doesn’t allow you to violate someone’s constitutional rights.

    • MirthfulAlembic@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      That clause doesn’t limit the scope to only members of Congress or laws they write. Supreme Court interpretation, 14th amendment, etc. have expanded that to government writ large.

      Free speech protections generally extend to government employees, except in the scope of speech related to their official duties, to my understanding. It would be difficult to seriously argue a pride flag in someone’s office in the past meets that criteria of official duties. My faith in the courts to consistently hold that precedent is not high these days, however.