It’s quite normal for employees of government entities to be required to watch various training videos, from sexual harassment to racial sensitivity, as a requirement of the job. To some extent, it’s a protective measure to provide a defense against liability should some claim arise later that someone acted inappropriately. The entity can point at the training video and argue, “we tried our best.” And at the same time, almost no one believes these videos accomplish anything, and some contend they make matters worse.
But DHS employees Aaron and his father Joseph Norgren claimed these videos compelled speech on their part, in violation of their rights under the First Amendment. Continue reading