Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit group that defends the rights of civil servants, said the Constitution protected the free speech of the FEMA workers. “They have strong First Amendment claims because they shared information that was already in the public domain — they weren’t revealing any confidential information in an inappropriate way,” he said.
Still, Mr. Whitehouse said that FEMA could investigate the 146 employees who withheld their names from the letter. They could be placed on administrative leave as well, he said, if the agency determines their identities and concludes that they signed the letter during official work hours using government equipment.