Opinion ID: 532065
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Is the statute an overbroad regulation of expression?

Text: 23 Having construed the statute to prohibit only knowing disclosures by federal employees of confidential information that comes to them within the course of their employment, we now must decide whether this prohibition constitutes a constitutionally overbroad regulation of expression. We conclude that it does not. 24 The government as an employer may not require an employee 'to surrender First Amendment rights as a condition of employment'; however, an employee is not always free to speak as a private citizen. Matherne v. Wilson, 851 F.2d 752, 759-60 (5th Cir.1988) (quoting Gonzalez v. Benavides, 774 F.2d 1295, 1299 (5th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1140, 106 S.Ct. 1789, 90 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986)); see also Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 93 S.Ct. 2908, 2918 (1973). To assess the validity of a public employer's restraint on the free expression of its employees, courts must balance the interests of the [employee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the [government], as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees. Matherne, 851 F.2d at 760 (quoting Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1734-35, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968)); see also Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1689-91, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). Preserving the confidentiality of government records and reports is essential to the efficient collection of information for use in the conduct of public affairs. If citizens fear uncontrolled disclosure of the trade secrets, tips, and other confidential data the government asks them to provide, they will be less willing to cooperate in the government's efforts to collect the data. Disclosure of confidential law enforcement information not only thwarts enforcement efforts but may endanger the safety of officials charged with enforcing the law. The Supreme Court recently suggested that the government has particularly extensive power to control the disclosure of sensitive information within its custody, and that the government may sanction its employees where the mishandling of sensitive information leads to its dissemination. The Florida Star v. B.J.F., --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 2603, 2609, 105 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989); see also Snepp v. United States, 444 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 763, 765 n. 3, 62 L.Ed.2d 704 (1980) (recognizing government's compelling interest in preserving secrecy of information important to national security). 25 At least in a substantial number of cases, the requirement that government employees refrain from knowingly disclosing confidential information contained in government files or collected in the scope of their official duties will strike a permissible balance between the First Amendment and the practical necessities of public service. Admittedly, in an extraordinary case, an employee's interest in expression on a matter of vital public concern might well outweigh the government's interest in confidentiality. 7 But we need not refute any and every theoretical case which might constitute an impermissible application of the statute in this facial challenge. CISPES, 770 F.2d at 475. We are confident that our construction will eliminate any impermissibly general chilling effect that section 1905 may otherwise have had. Thus, section 1905 is not an overbroad restriction on the right of government employees to speak.