United States v. National Treasury Employees Union

513 U.S. 454 (1995)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

Two unions and several career civil servants (Ps) filed suit challenging the constitutionality of an honoraria ban. A mail handler employed by the Postal Service in Arlington, Virginia had given lectures on the Quaker religion for which he received small payments that were 'not much, but enough to supplement my income in a way that makes a difference.' An aerospace engineer employed at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland had lectured on black history for a fee of $100 per lecture. A microbiologist at the Food and Drug Administration had earned almost $3,000 per year writing articles and making radio and television appearances reviewing dance performances. A tax examiner employed by the Internal Revenue Service in Ogden, Utah had received comparable pay for articles about the environment. The District Court held the statute 'unconstitutional” and enjoined enforcement. The court found the statute both overinclusive, because it restricts so much speech, and underinclusive because it prohibits honoraria for some forms of speech and not others. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Stressing the absence of evidence of either corruption or the appearance of corruption among lower-level federal employees receiving honoraria with no connection to their employment, the Court of Appeals concluded that the Government had failed to justify the ban's burden on their speech. The Court rewrote the statute by eliminating the words 'officer or employee' from § 501(b) 'except insofar as those terms encompass members of Congress, officers, and employees of Congress, judicial officers and judicial employees.'