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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday debated whether government employees have free-speech rights that protect them while they are carrying out their duties.
The case involves Richard Ceballos, a Los Angeles prosecutor who was demoted after he urged his supervisors to drop a criminal case because he believed a sheriff's deputy had lied in a search warrant affidavit.
A ruling against Ceballos could affect the nation's 20 million public employees by removing their ability to use the First Amendment as protection against supervisors' retaliation for bringing government misconduct or other issues to light.
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