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Here's the tricky part of the 1st amendment: “Congress shall make no law..." Does this preclude others from making rules, such as an employer? I'm all for an extreme version of free speech, as I think that ideas need to be protected, but I also think that an employer has some need in some cases to protect themselves from rogue employees (freedom to say, "you're fired", I suppose). Take for example a hospital who fires someone for disseminating literature about how vaccine cause autism. I think that's reasonable, because it undermines the mission of the employer. And, they're not saying "You can't say that." They're saying, "You can't say that and work for me". No law has been broken by either party.
Where I think this case is different is that this man worked for the government. I think one should have to say something pretty extreme to get shut up by the feds. (Remember the Dept. of Agriculture employee who was fired for being "reverse racist", except that her comments were out of context? That's why the gov't shouldn't fire people for words.)