A federal appeals court ruled that employees at the Allegheny County Port Authority could wear Black Lives Matter masks at work, stating that “the government may limit the speech of its employees more than it may limit the speech of the public, but those limits must still comport with the protections of the First Amendment.” They ruled the port authority shouldered the burden of proving that the policy did not violate free speech rights and had failed to do so. (Law.Com, July 1, 2022, by Colleen Murphy)
In the narrow decision, the court said that the port authority could still bar obscenity, defamation or incitement but made it clear that it was vital to protect employee speech involving government impropriety, the highest level of speech protected under the First Amendment. (TribLive, June 29, 2022, by Paula Reed Ward)