Cop Fails in Appeal of Discipline for George Floyd Facebook Post

A Boston-area cop lost an appeal challenging the discipline he received over his social media criticism of George Floyd, the Black man whose death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer set off nationwide social justice protests in 2020.

The interests that Cambridge, Mass., had in regulating Brian Hussey’s speech—namely preserving the community’s trust in the city’s police department—outweighed Hussey’s and the public’s free speech interests, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said in its 2-1 ruling Friday.

The decision shows the balancing that comes with deciding whether government employers can punish their workers when they ...