On June 1, The Guardian reported that politically appointed officials of the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) criticized two VA scientists for authoring a report that, according to the officials, painted the Administration in a bad light. The report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, voiced that federal cuts to the VA could negatively impact veterans’ respiratory health.
In a new article for the National Law Review, leading whistleblower attorney Stephen M. Kohn, founding partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto and Chairman of the Board of National Whistleblower Center, details how any attempt by the administration to silence VA scientists who, on their own time, publish information critical of their employers would run afoul of the First Amendment.
“Federal employees, including VA scientists, are protected by the First Amendment, and any rule, regulation, or threat by the government to stifle their report may violate their Constitutional rights,” Kohn writes. “Employees who work for the federal government do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they take a government job.”
Kohn details a number of landmark First Amendment cases with precedent relating to federal employees, including Sanjour v. EPA, a case in which Kohn represented EPA scientist William Sanjour.
“The cases from the 1990s highlight the importance of freedom of speech protections for federal employees,” Kohn writes. “A public employer cannot threaten constitutionally protected speech of a government employee, if that speech is given on their own time, and relates to matters of ‘public concern.’ Such threats may indeed be unconstitutional and can be challenged for injunctive relief.”
Read the Full Article: Attempts to Silence VA Scientists Would Violate the First Amendment
