Public employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights to speak on matters of public concern, even critically of their employers, when they take their jobs. Decided June 3, 1968 (argued March 27, 1968). Opinion of the Court: Thurgood Marshall → go there Applied: the First Amendment → go there Topic: Freedom of speech and of the press. Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 (1968), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that in the absence of proof of the teacher knowingly or recklessly making false statements the teacher had a right to speak on issues of public importance without being dismissed from their position. The case was later distinguished by Garcetti v. Ceballos, where the Court held that statements by public employees made pursuant to their employment have no First Amendment protection. Wiki link