On June 20, the 3rd circuit ruled that a government employee in a non-policy making position cannot be fired, just because she is apolitical and doesn’t support the party in power. The case is Galli v New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, no. 05-4114.

In 1976, 1980, and 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that government employees in non-policymaking positions cannot be fired, demoted, or otherwise injured, just because of their partisan affiliation. In those cases, the injured employee was an active partisan of the party out of power.

By contrast, in the recent New Jersey case, the injured employee was fired not because she was a Republican, but because she was a registered independent who kept her political opinions private. The 3rd circuit said “The First Amendment protects an employee’s failure to engage in any political activity whatsoever…A citizen’s right not to support a candidate is just as relevant for First Amendment purposes as her right to support one…The right of freedom of thought protected by the First Amendment includes both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all.”

The vote was 2-1. The dissenting judge argued that an employee who doesn’t speak out on politics is not exercising her rights.

The decision will be somewhat useful should any new or previously unqualified party sue Illinois, over Illinois law that requires a new party to run a full slate of candidates, if it wishes to appear on the ballot. The case would be unusual; the political party that files such a case would be arguing for the right not to run for certain positions.