This Times editorial discusses a case involving the First Amendment rights of a government employee.

Government employees do not forfeit their right to comment on matters of public interest. The Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 1968 case that a public-school teacher had a First Amendment right to write a letter to the editor, as a private citizen, criticizing how his board of education spent money. The employer has interests in the orderly operation of its workplace, the court noted, but they were outweighed by freedom of speech.