Henry v. Johnson

Issue: Whether, when a government employee speaks on a matter of public concern, the government may punish that employee (1) if the employee"s interest in freedom of speech is outweighed by possible adverse effect of the speech on the employer, regardless of whether the government"s purpose is to retaliate against the speaker because of the content of his or her speech, the rule in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 3rd and 8th Circuits, or (2) only if both the employee"s interest in freedom of speech is outweighed by the possible adverse effect of the speech on the employer and the government"s purpose is to address that adverse effect, rather than to retaliate against the employee because of the content of the speech, the rule in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 1st, 2nd, 7th, 9th and 10th Circuits.