It is well settled that a state cannot condition public employment upon a total relinquishment of constitutional rights, such as freedom of expression. At the same time, public employees do not enjoy absolute freedom when it comes to their employment. The seminal case on the issue of public employees' First Amendment rights is Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District (1968) 391 U.S. 563. Pickering held that a public employee's speech or expression is constitutionally protected if it deals with a matter of public concern, and the public employer may liable for taking adverse action against the employee in retaliation for the employee's constitutionally protected expression. Pickering created a balancing test, which requires courts to strike "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." 391 U.S. at 568.

Recently, federal law enforcement officials released findings of a 10-month investigation into the New Orleans Police Department. The Justice Department says their inquiry paints the picture of a "profoundly and alarmingly troubled" law enforcement agency according to an in-depth story in The New York Times. Investigators say the investigation has determined the need for yet another series of "wholesale reforms" at the beleaguered police department. The report describes the NOPD as severely dysfunctional on every level.

What's going on in state and local government as far as outsourcing public sector jobs and trying in vein to balance the budget on the backs of cops and firefighters is nothing short of criminal. Some would say the term "criminal," might be overdoing it. But a grand jury in Sacramento, California disagrees. The Sacramento County grand jury has taken a snapshot of how budget cuts have hurt a wide range of government programs  and produced a report.

Circuit Court Judge Emory A. Plitt Jr.'s ruling helps clarify the state's wiretap law and makes it clear that police officers do not have an expectation of privacy as they perform their duties.

For years drug law reformers have been trying to eliminate the disparity in sentences handed down to defendants based on what form of cocaine they were in possession of or distributing. Since 1986, if you were busted for crack, you got a prison sentence 100 times tougher than the guy with the higher-quality powdered version of the same drug. Now that crack isn't the new kid on the block in terms of dangerous drugs, politicians have decided to reduce the sentencing disparity from 100 to one down to 18 to one.