Henry McMaster told reporters that the school “handled it appropriately.”But S.C. free speech advocates argued the dismissals were a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution. “The First Amendment protects people from being punished by the government for speech,” ACLU of S.C. spokesman Paul Bowers told Statehouse Report on Sept. 18. UnsplashThat’s why he’s demanded action to punish state employees, particularly teachers and college professors, whose “repulsive” social media comments crossed that line, he said. Defending free speech, even when it’s ‘tasteless’Since its founding in 1999, the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has defended the right of both conservatives and progressives to speak freely on college campuses and beyond. “And that’s not what free speech is about.”What’s worse, Greenberg said, is the firings took place at the direction of government officials.