By Jesse Russell

Would-be whistle blowers might need to start whistling a different tune after the Supreme Court ruled what public employees say is not always protected under the First Amendment. The vote came down 5-4 with Samuel Alito casting the deciding vote. Jeff Ruch is executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Protection; he explains the potential impact of the decision:

[Ruch]: It makes candor inside the agencies much more difficult and creates this anomaly that says public employees will have constitutional protection only when they go out of their job duties or go public. Those that try to resolve issues constructively within their chain of command have no constitutional protection.

Ruch added that the new rules will now give management an upper hand:

[Ruch]: In agencies that have greater discretion they'll know they are on much stronger grounds to get rid of these people right away. In other words, management is now armed with the legal tools to snuff out dissent early and effectively without challenge.