Social Media and First Amendment Freedom of Speech Rights

• Public Employees, the First Amendment, and Social Media

Whether or not the First Amendment will protect a public employee from being disciplined for something published in Social Media depends upon a balancing of the nature of the statement and the circumstances of its publication with the affected public agency’s right to avoid disruption and maintaining workforce discipline.

Officer Charles Moser was a former Navy Seal and current Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officer.  Beginning in 2006, Officer Moser was a SWAT team sniper and assistant team leader.  However, on December 17, 2015, Officer Moser made the unfortunate (as it turned out) decision to post on his Facebook account a comment about a shooting and wounding of a fellow officer.  Officer Moser’s Facebook comment read: “Thanks to a Former Action Guy (FAG) and his team we caught that asshole. . . It’s a shame he didn't have a few holes in him. . .” (The “FAG” comment was not ....