Prof. Charlotte Garden Quoted in St. Cloud Times About Requests for Governor to Take Action Against State Employee

Professor Charlotte Garden, Julius E. Davis Professor of Law, was quoted in the St. Cloud Times about area legislators requesting that Governor Tim Walz take action against a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who commented about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump on his personal Facebook account. The legislators say that if nothing is done to discipline the employee, they are worried about the precedent it could create for public employees, especially in light of recent acts of political violence. Prof. Garden said that since the DNR is a public entity rather than a private business, there are additional legal factors at play when considering disciplinary measures. “We're talking about the First Amendment because this is a public employer, and obviously the First Amendment does not apply to private employers. Private employers have fewer constraints if they decide they want to fire somebody because of something they’ve said at work.”