Law Commons^™

Free Speech And Parity: A Theory Of Public Employee Rights, Randy J. Kozel

William & Mary Law Review

More than four decades have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court revolutionized the First Amendment rights of the public workforce. In the ensuing years the Court has embarked upon an ambitious quest to protect expressive liberties while facilitating orderly and efficient government. Yet it has never articulated an adequate theoretical framework to guide its jurisprudence.

This Article suggests a conceptual reorientation of the modern doctrine. The proposal flows naturally from the Court’s rejection of its former view that one who accepts a government job has no constitutional right to complain about its conditions. As a result of that rejection, the …

When Freedom Is Not Free: Investigating The First Amendment's Potential For Providing Protection Against Sexual Profiling In The Public Workplace, Michele Alexandre

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This article explores the ways in which bodily expression can constitute symbolic speech that courts should protect pursuant to the First Amendment of the Constitution. In a previous article, I referred to this type of bodily speech as "body protest."' Body protest can refer to actions that individuals undertake to assert their autonomy, identity, and freedom from societal restrictions. For women, body protest may be used "to challenge gender restrictions and to activate women-centric legal reforms."2 For example, women may express body protest through dance, dress, or performance arts. These individuals are often sexually profiled because of how they use …

Garcetti V. Ceballos: Stifling The First Amendment In The Public Workplace, Julie A. Wenell

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Public Employee Speech Rights Fall Prey To An Emerging Doctrinal Formalism, Charles W. "Rocky" Rhodes

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Board Of County Commissioners V. Umbehr: The Inadequacies Of Extending Pickering Analysis To Government Contractors, Luther D. Tupponce

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Note challenges the restrictive First Amendment free speech protection that the Supreme Court gave to government contractors in Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr when it applied the Pickering balancing test, developed nearly thirty years ago in Pickering v. Board of Education in the context of government employees. It does so by first questioning whether the First Amendment free speech protections given to government employees should be similar for government contractors. It then explores whether the Pickering balancing test should be applied to cases involving government contractors as it was in Umbehr.

The author concludes that the Court improperly …