Too extreme or fair game? From Yahoo News:
Six people sued Sheriff B. J. Roberts in Hampton, Virginia after he fired them. They say they were fired for supporting his opponent in his bid to be reelected, which would be a violation of their First Amendment rights. One of the six fired, Daniel Ray Carter, "liked" the Facebook page of Roberts' opponent. Roberts claims they were either fired for poor performance, or because supporting his opponent "hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office."NOTE FROM JOHN: I'm sensing a bit off luddite from the judge.
Judge Raymond A. Jackson acknowledged that other cases involving written messages on Facebook protected the speaker with the First Amendment, clicking the "like" button is different and doesn't warrant protection.
How is the "like" button "NOT speech? Later on in the article the "like" button is compared to a retweet on Twitter. Wrong. A retweet on Twitter doesn't mean you agree with the tweet or the tweeter, or even like either. When you click the "like" button on a Facebook page, it usually indicates that you like the things behind the page. But not always. Sometimes people click "like" in order to be able to follow what the page is doing, writing, saying. But, if someone interprets your "like" as meaning you support the candidate, and if they fire you for it, then yes they were punishing you for political speech. There's no way around it.
