Today in First Amendment news, a Virginia woman has filed a lawsuit against her former employer for the right to flip off President Trump.
Last November, Juli Briskman, at the time a marketing executive at Akima, a government contractor, went for a bike ride on Saturday afternoon near her home. She ran into the presidential motorcade headed towards (surprise) a Trump-owned golf course, and like any good patriot, Briskman raised her middle finger in salute. A passing photographer captured the shot, Voice of America posted it online, the photo went viral, and three days later, Briskman was fired from her job. Her boss, she says, acknowledged that her right to flip off the President is protected by the First Amendment, but said she was being terminated for violating the company’s social media policy. Company executives were reportedly afraid the Trump administration would punish the company for its employee’s middle finger.
— juli_briskman (@julibriskman) April 3, 2018
Briskman wrote about the experience—and why she’s suing Akima for wrongful termination—this week in the Washington Post:
The First Amendment bars retaliation against me by Trump. But Trump doesn’t need to punish me for my speech if fear of him spurs my employer to do it. And a private employer can’t suppress my freedom of expression on my own time out of fear of illegal government retaliation without violating Virginia employment law, which is why I filed a lawsuit against my former employer this week.
I am not alone in having my ability to make a living threatened by my desire to exercise my right to free speech. No one who follows football thinks that all 50 quarterbacks signed by NFL teams in the past year are more talented than Colin Kaepernick. The president’s relentless attacks on Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem created an environment in which many teams were reluctant to sign him and risk a backlash that could hurt their bottom line. Now Eric Reid, one of the first to join Kaepernick’s protest, is facing speculation that the salary he can draw as a free agent is reduced because he engaged in political dissent.
This sort of behavior is familiar to people living in Egypt, Hungary, Thailand, Turkey and Russia, where the ability to do business increasingly depends on being seen as favorable to the regime. As a result, companies in each of these countries do not hire or do business with known dissenters. And that pressure — making citizens choose between their pocketbooks and their principles — starts a downward spiral that ultimately dismantles a democracy.
As Briskman writes, she’s not alone in being punished for taking a stand against Trump. Comic Kathy Griffin was investigated by the Secret Service for three months after taking a photo with a headless Trump mannequin. Griffin was widely condemned by friends and foes alike, and while she’s is currently on a come-back tour across the U.S., she is still on Interpol’s No-Fly List—for a fucking joke.
Briskman says she doesn’t want her old job back—she’s had no lack of offers since her hail to the chief went viral—but she’s suing for the right of all of us to flip off the Golden Ruler without fear of retribution. It’s the American way.
