Officials tried to push the case to another court - the judge said no
A federal judge kept alive a contractor employee's claim that government officials forced his firing over social media posts about a public figure.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia denied the government's bid to dismiss the case on September 11, 2026, allowing a First Amendment retaliation claim to proceed.
The worker was an engineer and project manager at Advanced Concepts Enterprises, Inc., known as ACES, a contractor for the US Coast Guard. He handled communications technology projects at Coast Guard headquarters. His complaint says he "received nothing but" "praise" and "positive feedback" from the Coast Guard.
About two months after he joined ACES, a conservative activist was shot and killed at a college event in Utah. The engineer posted about the activist on Facebook, according to his complaint, which does not detail what the posts said.
A Defense Department official then contacted a DHS chief of staff about "inappropriate behavior" by a Coast Guard contractor, the complaint alleges. The chief of staff replied that he would "take care of the . . . matter" and allegedly emailed staff to "offboard[]" the contractor "without delay." Days later, ACES received a federal directive to terminate the engineer's work. The company told him its hands were tied.
He sued both officials, the two departments, and the agencies' leaders. The government argued the complaint was a contract dispute...
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