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Social Media - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - International ...

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<strong>The</strong> 1st Amendment <strong>and</strong><br />

Public Employee Speech<br />

Curran v. Cousins, 509 F.3d 36 (1 st Cir. 2007)<br />

Corrections officer was terminated after making<br />

comments on union website comparing the<br />

Sheriff to Hitler, those following the Sheriff’s<br />

instructions to Hitler’s generals, officers to the<br />

Jews being marched to death chambers, <strong>and</strong><br />

further, referencing the plot to assassinate Hitler<br />

in regard to the Sheriff.<br />

Court of Appeals held that non-threatening<br />

elements of the post were protected political<br />

speech, but that the threatening elements were<br />

not protected. <strong>The</strong> unprotected speech with<br />

prior bad conduct was sufficient to justify<br />

termination.<br />

©Ruckelshaus Kautzman Blackwell Bemis & Hasbrook 2012<br />

©Andrew R. Duncan 2012

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