Seventh Cir. Backs Coast Guard Auxiliary Firing for Online Posts

A federal appeals court declined to revive a US Coast Guard Auxiliary’s free speech challenge to his removal, ruling that he ignored warnings about his political remarks on LinkedIn while in uniform.

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed a Wisconsin federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of the Coast Guard, which removed James Wenzler from the uniformed, all-volunteer civilian component of the maritime military branch. Wenzler’s speech touched on matters of public concern, but the Auxiliary “deserves deference in assessing and responding to its members’ speech when they hold themselves out as members ...