Subpoenas, First Amendment, Retaliation

Court of Appeals Blocks Texas AG From Enforcing Pre-Litigation Subpoena

Troutman Pepper Locke on 6/23/2025

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently enjoined Texas Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton from enforcing a pre-litigation subpoena issued to Media Matters for America (Media Matters). The subpoena is...more

California Employment Law Notes - September 2017

Proskauer - California Employment Law on 9/13/2017

Jobseeker Website May Be Compelled To Disclose Identity Of Anonymous Posters Who Criticized Employer - ZL Technologies, Inc. v. Does 1-7, 13 Cal. App. 5th 603 (2017) - ZL Technologies brought suit, alleging libel per se and...more

U.S. Supreme Court Finds Sworn Testimony Outside Scope of Regular Job Duties Entitled to First Amendment Protection

McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC on 7/2/2014

While the labor and employment law world is abuzz after the decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Harris v. Quinn (cases this Blog will cover in the coming days), the United States Supreme Court also issued a decision...more

Supreme Court Finds Public Employee's Testimony in Criminal Trial Protected Under First Amendment

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP on 6/30/2014

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a public employee cannot be retaliated against by his employer based on testimony provided by him under subpoena in a criminal proceeding. In Lane v. Franks, the...more

First Amendment Protects Public Employees for Sworn Testimony Given Outside Scope of Regular Job Duties on Matters of Public...

Best Best & Krieger LLP on 6/27/2014

U.S. Supreme Court Makes Unanimous Ruling in Lane v. Franks - The First Amendment protects a public employee from adverse employment action taken in retaliation for providing truthful sworn testimony, compelled by...more

The Supreme Court Says Public Employee’s Court Testimony Protected From Retaliation Under The First Amendment, At Least To The...

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and... on 6/25/2014

Eight years ago the United States Supreme Court, in Garcetti v. Ceballos, instructed that speech undertaken pursuant to a public employee’s job duties is “employee” speech and not “citizen” speech, and hence is not protected...more

U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Sworn Testimony by Employee is Protected by the First Amendment

Miller Canfield on 6/24/2014

Providing truthful, sworn testimony outside the course of ordinary job duties is First Amendment speech for the purposes of retaliation lawsuits, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 19, 2004. The ruling prohibits a public...more

Subpoenas › First Amendment › Retaliation