Assignment task:
Background and Facts:
Section 1.4 in our Fundamentals textbook, and Section 1.2 in our Essentials textbook, both cover the U.S. Constitution, including the first ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, enacted in 1791. This the text of the first amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The first amendment is generally understood to provide certain freedoms to the American people, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc. With respect to freedom of speech, the courts have generally interpreted this right broadly. This includes extending the same protections to "expressive actions" as is given to actual oral speech. Expressive actions are generally considered to be those actions that express an opinion, such as waving a flag, or attending a protest march, etc.
The First Amendment is the law involved in this question. Now, for the facts. See the resource below for background information on the actual incident that is the subject of this question.
Resource: FedEx employee fired, NJ corrections officer suspended linked to video mocking George Floyd death is a June 10, 2020 article written by Carly Q. Romalino, appearing in USA Today and on usatoday.com. The article discusses the actions of a Fed Ex employee, a New Jersey corrections officer, and others, during a time when they were not at work. Their actions were recorded on video. As a result of their actions, FedEx fired the employee, and the NJ Corrections Department suspended the officer. Here is a link to the article. If interested, be sure to scroll down the entire story to see all the videos:
USA Today article (Links to an external site.)
Question: Given the free speech protections offered by the first amendment, how can FedEx legally fire James J. DeMarco, the FeEx employee depicted in the article? (Of course, the speech and expressive actions at issue in this case are abhorrent to most, but that does not make them any more or less what they are: speech and actions intended to express an opinion.)