Opinion ID: 2971798
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Public Nature of Latham’s Speech

Text: First, Latham argues the speech must be public for the presumption in favor of the government to apply, and that her speech (i.e., the 1995 letter) was not public. Therefore, she claims, the presumption from Rose should not apply here. In fact, however, the speech at issue in Rose was also never made “public.” Rose only sent his memorandum to his superior (the Secretary of Kentucky’s Justice Cabinet) and his superior’s superior (the Governor). Here, Latham’s 1995 letter was also sent to her superior (the acting head of the Consumer Protection Section) and her superior’s superior (Attorney General Montgomery), as well as to several other OAG attorneys. Accordingly, Latham’s letter was no less public than was the speech at issue in Rose. Furthermore, in Rose, we focused on how the speech would affect the employer’s ability to maintain a working relationship with his or her employees, rather than whether the speech was “public” or intra-office. See id. at 923. As a result, any small distinction between the public nature of Latham’s speech and that of the speech in Rose should not affect the application of Rose to this case.