| We note, for posterity, the final flameout that is the career of Andrew Shirvell. (CNN) -- A federal court jury in Detroit has awarded a $4.5 million judgment to the University of Michigan's first openly gay student body president in his suit against a former Michigan assistant attorney general who had written disparagingly about him on the Internet, the student's lawyer said.
When this broke, there was a general hue and a cry from some of our fellow progressives that he be fired immediately and without even so much as an investigation into whether his conduct was actually illegal. The fact that it was offensive was of primary importance. The investigation turned up evidence of genuine misconduct and he was fired; now, he's lost a defamation lawsuit. All that happened without establishing a precedence for firing a public employee for political activism on their own time, which might have been turned around and used against union organizers or scientists who belong to science-based policy groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists. |
