Freedom of Speech vs. Workplace Harassment Law -- A Big Free Speech Win in the Ninth Circuit

This case gets a bit long and technical so I will try to summarize:

A math professor by the name of Kehowski sent out a few emails proclaiming the superiority of Western civilization. He sent them to everybody in the internal mail system of his college. He was particularly scornful of official Mexican racism (The "La Raza" concept)

Lots of Hispanics got peeved by that and sued the college for letting Kehowski do it. They had a bit of a win initially but when it went to the 9th circus on appeal, they lost in spades, with the judge saying some rather amazingly pro-free-speech things.

How come? Pretty surprising for the 9th Circus. Color me an old cynic but I am inclined to think that a Polish-American judge might have felt more than usually sympathetic to a Polish-American "offender". Bad of me, I know. We all know how impartial 9th circus judges are.

A few good excerpts from the judgment:

"Their objection to Kehowski's speech is based entirely on his point of view, and it is axiomatic that the government may not silence speech because the ideas it promotes are thought to be offensive"

"The right to provoke, offend and shock lies at the core of the First Amendment.

"We therefore doubt that a college professor's expression on a matter of public concern, directed to the college community, could ever constitute unlawful harassment and justify the judicial intervention that plaintiffs seek"

"It's easy enough to assert that Kehowski's ideas contribute nothing to academic debate, and that the expression of his point of view does more harm than good. But the First Amendment doesn't allow us to weigh the pros and cons of certain types of speech. Those offended by Kehowski's ideas should engage him in debate or hit the "delete" button when they receive his emails. They may not invoke the power of the government to shut him up."

Details here

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).