Courts

Biker Who Flipped Off Trump Loses Wrongful Termination Case, Which Is What We Need Right Now

Take note of this proper application of free speech, you Tiki Torch waving Nazis

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You might remember this iconic picture of a cyclist flipping off the Donald Trump motorcade.

The biker, Juli Briskman, was fired from her job as a market analyst for Akima LLC, a Virginia based firm. Her company is a government contractor and, well, we know Trump is a petty, vindictive despot.

Briskman sued for wrongful termination. She argued that her free speech rights were infringed by the company’s decision to let her go, arguably to save its government contracts. She also argued that Akima stiffed her on her severance.

On Friday, Judge Penney Azcarate dismissed the wrongful termination part of Briskman’s complaint. Akima’s lawyers successfully argued that there was no public policy exception to Virginia’s at-will employment statute.

To my mind, the case reached the correct result and is critically important given the current political climate. You can’t open Twitter without some idiot claiming he has a free speech right to be a Trump supporting Nazi. And he does. But freedom of speech does not equal freedom from consequences — private, social, moral — for that speech. Trump cannot put you in a gulag for flipping him off (SafetyTip: He’ll certainly try and the GOP will let him do it). But getting fired from your private sector job is not something that the First Amendment gives a damn about.

Which is the way it should be. Sure, Briskman presents as a “resister” — though there is some question as to whether she was flipping off the Trump motorcade because Trump is a bigoted fascist, or if she was flipping off the motorcade because it interrupted her pleasant bike ride. Regardless, we know the free speech restrictions of corporate America are as likely as not to work against people who peaceably protest the Nazi takeover of America. Just look on the sidelines Sundays this fall as the NFL tries to make its field hands stand at attention and respect the symbol of a country that hunts them and shoots them without due process of law.

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But, corporate America has also found something closer to a moral center than anything coming out of the Republican party or the mainstream news media. The Republican party would rather support the alt-right Nazis that make up their base, than risk losing elections. The media will republish straight Nazi propaganda, as long as it comes out of the mouth of Sarah Huckabee Sanders. But at least Roseanne doesn’t have a job anymore.

No, you shouldn’t allow Sanders or Kirstjen Nielsen to enjoy a meal in public in peace. No, you shouldn’t be able to put down your Tiki Torch and then go right back to your job at the 7-11. Yes, #PermitPatty should lose her job for calling the cops on an eight-year-old girl. The First Amendment should protect you from the government, EVERYBODY ELSE is free to judge you and punish you for the crap that comes out of your mouth.

Again, this isn’t a war the left is destined to win. In fact, the left is already losing. And I know white liberal squishes are worried about the dystopia where employers get to effectively decide who gets to protest, how, and over what.

But white squishes are just worried about the restrictive reality that people of color have existed in this whole time. Minorities have always known that they have less robust free speech rights than white people. We know that our voices and our gestures, hell, even our music, can get us fired by any white man in a position of authority. When we dare to speak up, getting fired is like the least bad thing that can happen. Ain’t a black person up in here who hasn’t been told “f**k a job” by an aunt or a cousin or a brother who thinks it’s time for minorities to rise up.

If you speak up, you could get fired. Yes. Duh. Twas always thus. Now that you know this, what are you prepared to do?

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Judge tosses wrongful termination claim by woman forced to resign after flipping off Trump motorcade [ABA Journal]

Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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