Abstract
Public employees do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the workplace gate. Nor do they shed them when they log on to their computer to send an email to their co-workers, superiors, or similar fellow government employees. In Mayfield v. Missouri House of Representatives, the Eighth Circuit undertook a multistep analysis to determine whether the defendant, as a public employer, violated the constitutional rights of its longtime employee, Tad Mayfield, when it terminated him only three days after he sent an email to state legislature leaders asking them to implement a mask mandate to help stop the spread of COVID-19. In this step-by-step analysis, the court chose to protect the rights of Mayfield and similarly situated employees. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling. By doing so, the court also affirmed the First Amendment protections of employee free speech.
Recommended Citation
Luke M. Severt,
Pickering and Choosing: The Positive Outcome of an Eighth Circuit Ruling Among the Chaotic World of Government Employee Free Speech,
90 Mo. L. Rev.
(2026)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/mlr/vol90/iss4/13