It's notable to me that in all the discussion about free speech, and threats to it, that people don't talk more about employers.
The vast majority of American workers are at-will employees who effectively have no free speech rights at work, a place where they spend half or more of their waking hours.
But now we find ourselves with a situation in which the line between employee and citizen has been more or less annihilated by social media. You can clock out and go to a protest with a vulgar sign or post something on Facebook and end up fired.
This is viewpoint neutral, by the way. Your employer might fire you for a "F*ck Trump" sign or a "Deport All Immigrants!" sign. But either way, your expression isn't free, because in the back of your head you always know you can pay for it with your livelihood.
At the same time, courts have expanded the free speech rights of corporations (read: employers). *And* used speech arguments to chip away at unions.
What employers want, and increasingly what they're getting, are no constraints on their own "speech" but total control over what their employees can and can't say. Nice deal if you can get it!
