Facts

In this case, the petitioner was Rankin, and the respondent was McPherson. McPherson worked as a clerical employee at the Harris County’s Constable in Texas. After the attempt of Reagan’s assassination, McPherson commented to a colleague that if such an attempt occurred again, she hoped that they got him that time. Another co-worker overhead this conversation and reported it to Constable Rankin. Rankin then fired McPherson, who then sued for alleging the violation of her constitutional rights.

Issue

The issue was whether McPherson was properly discharged for the remark that she made after the assassination attempt on the president. This was more of a constitutional rights issue.

Rule

Every employee’s speech tends to be protected when it addresses matters of public concern and the interests of the employee in commenting on issues of public concern have more weight than the interest of the government to promote efficiency. The rule under question here was whether McPherson’s dismissal violated the First Amendment, which emphasizes on the right to the freedom of expression.  The guiding principle is that free expression is regarded as the foundation of the United States democracy.

Application

Among the questions to answer here is whether McPherson’s speech may be characterized as a speech on an issue that was of public concern. The other question revolves on whether Rankin fairly dismissed McPherson. Here, it is more of a balance between commenting on issues of public concern and interests of the employee. Basically, McPherson’s comment was not very disruptive.

Conclusion

The court voted 5-4 in favor of McPherson since it was argued that her comment was a matter of public concern and her speech did not interfere with her office work. Therefore, there were no grounds for termination.

Impact

The ruling has impacted the public administration in that it did put precedence on the fact that an individual does not lose their constitutional rights upon accepting public employment. To be specific, the freedom of free speech under public employment context necessitates balancing the employees’ interests to express their views as citizens on matters regarding public concern against government’s interests in efficient operation.

 
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