High Court Trims Whistleblower Rights

[dogday]

The Supreme Court scaled back protections for government workers who blow the whistle on official misconduct Tuesday, a 5-4 decision in which new Justice Samuel Alito cast the deciding vote.


In a victory for the Bush administration, justices said the 20 million public employees do not have free-speech protections for what they say as part of their jobs.


Critics predicted the impact would be sweeping, from silencing police officers who fear retribution for reporting department corruption, to subduing federal employees who want to reveal problems with government hurricane preparedness or terrorist-related security.


Supporters said that it will protect governments from lawsuits filed by disgruntled workers pretending to be legitimate whistleblowers.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/30/national/w132119D75.DTL&type=politics

[Squatch]

1. "Supporters said that it will protect governments"

Since when is the government in the business of protecting the government and not the right's of the People?

[dogday]

2. Since we let the little black box

tell us the truth......:tinfoilhat:

[notadmblnd]

3. Since Alito and Roberts took the bench?

nt

[necso]

4. PDF

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/04-473.pdf

Source page for recent decisions: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05slipopinion.html

All three dissents are worth a read.

It appears that Roberts' strategy ("narrow" decisions) is a savvy one.

The so-called Kennedy Court looms large.

[Coexist]

5. knr

[dogday]

6. This is a must read