No Supreme "Wackos" Until Ms. Public Scatology Shows Up

During a Supreme Court discussion of the free speech rights of public employees yesterday, New Chief Roberts suggested an entirely hypothetical situation:

New Chief Justice John Roberts had his own example. He said a law clerk might write him a memo claiming that another justice has a "wacky" approach to the law. Roberts wondered if he could fire the clerk, without being sued on free speech grounds.

Scalia said that the example was not a good one.

"Nobody's wacko here," he said.