Fired by feds over critical op-eds, former Gitmo chief prosecutor settles free-speech case for $100K
In a mixed victory over free-speech rights, a former chief prosecutor at the military tribunals at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has agreed to accept a $100,000 settlement from his subsequent employer, because he was fired based on his critical op-eds about Gitmo.
However, the settlement by the Library of Congress, which includes the removal of the claimed for-cause termination from the personnel records of retired Air Force Col. Morris Davis, 57, does not provide any admission of liability. It also doesn’t include back pay, which federal law generally protects the legislative branch from being held accountable for in lawsuits, reports the Washington Post (reg. req.).
“He is emerging with some compensation and his record intact,” said senior staff attorney Lee Rowland of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU represented Davis in the case, and “It’s our hope that this settlement serves as a warning to other federal agencies that will think twice before punishing an employee who is engaging in protected speech,” Rowland told the newspaper.
A spokeswoman for the Library of Congress declined the newspaper’s request for comment.
Davis said he was rejected for about 200 jobs as “too toxic” after his firing, many of them in the federal government. He finally got hired by Howard University as an assistant law professor. Last year he transitioned to the U.S. Department of Labor, where he is now an administrative law judge.
At issue in the case were his published personal writings critical of using Gitmo military tribunals to prosecute detainees. Initially supportive of the systems in an op-ed he wrote for the New York Times (reg. req.) in 2007, Davis subsequently criticized the system in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and a letter to the Washington Post (reg. req.).
The Congressional Research Service, for which Davis then worked as an assistant director, said the writings could compromise lawmakers’ confidence in his work as a researcher on foreign affairs, defense and trade policy.
Davis and the ACLU contended that the government’s attempt to quash his personal expression of his opinions violated the First Amendment.
Courthouse News and a McClatchy story published in the Miami Herald (sub. req.) provide more details.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Appeals Court Hears Case of Ex-Gitmo Prosecutor Fired by Library of Congress for Op-Eds”
