Court Opinion

ID: 9765914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:24:32.553794+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:16.670000
License: Public Domain

Kenison, C.J.,
dissenting: Some time ago in a lone and lonely dissenting opinion I concluded that State employees were not second-class citizens who were required to give up their constitutional rights for the privilege of engaging in public employment. *462Ratti v. Hinsdale Raceway, 109 N.H. 270, 274, 249 A.2d 859, 862 (1969); Powell, The Right to Work For the State, 16 Colum. L. Rev. 99 (1916); Van Alstyne, The Demise of the Right-Privilege Distinction in Constitutional Law, 81 Harv. L. Rev. 1459 (1968). Recent opinions have not diluted the validity of that conclusion. Elrod v. Burns, 96 S. Ct. 2673 (1976). “The problem... is to arrive at a balance between the interests of the [employee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.” Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 568 (1968).
In 1964, the Constitutional Convention recommended and adopted an amendment specifically providing for freedom of speech. Mr. Bittenbender of Deering explained the amendment as follows: “What we have proposed to you, as amended, provides simply that the right of free speech which is, of course, an essential part of our heritage, is spelled out very clearly in the Constitution. The Constitution presently has several references to it so that inferentially you can presume that the right to free speech is guaranteed in our New Hampshire Constitution. The right is, of course, guaranteed under our Federal Constitution. What we wanted to do was to be absolutely certain the Constitution was clear, that there could be no possible misunderstanding or misinterpretation of it. And we felt that the right to free speech should, consequently, be enunciated in the Constitution and we had included it with that part which relates to the liberty of the press ....” N.H. Jour. Const. Conv. 218 (1964). This amendment was approved by the people of the State by a vote of 185,340 in favor to 27,797 opposed. This amendment was approved in 1968 by 86.95% of the voters which was the highest percentage received for constitutional amendments in recent years. Consequently, N.H. Const, pt. I, art. 22 (Supp. 1975) now reads as follows: “Free Speech; Liberty of the Press. Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a state: They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.”
The constitutional command of the New Hampshire constitution and the first amendment to the United States Constitution' does not permit the discharge of the plaintiff from State service on the grounds of insubordination in the circumstances of this case. It is frequently easier to attempt to silence a critic than to answer him. But we have chosen a different system of government, one in which “the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good *463ones.” Whitney v. California, 274 U.S. 357, 375 (1927) (Brandeis, J., concurring).