Thread: Man who burned Koran at Ground Zero fired from job as NJ Tra

How can they regulate something totally unconnected with his job?

How interesting..Isabel Garcia was not fired for carrying a pinata of Sheriff Joe's head and encouraging IAs to beat it, but this guy gets fired for burning a book? Can we say BULLSH**?!?!?!?!!

Originally Posted by Bowman

How can they regulate something totally unconnected with his job?

They really can't. For one thing, it is free speech. For another thing, it is freedom of religion. Freedom of religion also includes freedome FROM religion. If he burned any other book at the same spot it would not be an issue. And what he did was not against the law either. But then there is the "at will employment" thing.....where they can fire you for any reason, or no reason. That is why I brought up the possible union in this case. I think all transit employees are unionized. Big difference there.

Found an update.

N.J. train conductor fired after burning Quran
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The Record
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRENTON — A New Jersey train conductor who burned pages from the Quran outside a planned mosque near ground zero on Saturday has been fired by NJ Transit.

The agency says in a statement that the worker "violated his trust as a state employee." NJ Transit would not elaborate.

The firing raises questions about whether the man's First Amendment rights were violated.

Ed Barocas, New Jersey legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says a person can't be fired for off-the-job political expression when that person is employed in a nonpolicy-related role.


TRENTON — A New Jersey train conductor who burned pages from the Quran outside a planned mosque near ground zero on Saturday has been fired by NJ Transit.

The agency says in a statement that the worker "violated his trust as a state employee." NJ Transit would not elaborate.

The firing raises questions about whether the man's First Amendment rights were violated.

Ed Barocas, New Jersey legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, says a person can't be fired for off-the-job political expression when that person is employed in a nonpolicy-related role.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/transpo ... Quran.html

He is a conductor? I am pretty sure he is union. I think it is the United Transportation Union Local 60 for New Jersey. This should get interesting.

Originally Posted by Dixie

What's unethical about burning a book?

Where's the ACLU? They should be falling all over themselves to defend him.

Dixie

Yes the ACLU should be falling all over themselves to defend Mr. Fenton, but I think the ACLU is tied up right now defending Al-Awaki, the Muslim terrorist.

Lawsuit against the CIA

In July 2010, Anwar's father, Nasser al-Awlaki, contracted the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union to represent his son in a lawsuit which seeks to remove Anwar from the target list. ACLU's Jameel Jaffer stated "the United States is not at war in Yemen, and the government doesn’t have a blank check to kill terrorism suspects wherever they are in the world. Among the arguments we’ll be making is that, outside actual war zones, the authority to use lethal force is narrowly circumscribed, and preserving the rule of law depends on keeping this authority narrow."[158]

Lawyers for Specially Designated Global Terrorists must obtain a special license from the U.S. Treasury before they can represent their clients in court.[159] The request for a license was made on July 23.[158] On August 3, the groups filed their own lawsuit arguing that the licensing requirement was unconstitutional. They received the license on August 4 but still plan to press ahead with the licensing lawsuit.[159]

On August 30, the groups filed the "targeted killing" lawsuit, naming U.S. President Barack Obama, CIA directory Leon Panetta, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as defendants.[160][161] They seek one injunction preventing the targeted killing of al-Awlaki and another requiring the government to disclose the standards under which U.S. citizens may be "targeted for death."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki