“I think everyone should be very worried as Americans about this kind of targeted repression of free speech,” Joanna Citron Day, an attorney representing Joslin, told CBS News. “We are seeing this administration go after groups it doesn’t agree with, people it doesn’t like, whether it’s trans rights, whether it’s federal workers, whether it’s immigrants, no one is safe. And I think, to that extent, all Americans should be significantly disturbed by what’s happening to Dr. Joslin.”
Day said Joslin is the first person to suffer negative consequences for flying a flag on El Capitan, including federal employees who have done it in the past, and that the extent of the administration’s retaliation could set a dangerous precedent in this case. In addition to their dismissal, Joslin also faced a criminal investigation, according to the lawsuit, escalating what their attorneys called a “vindictive campaign” that violated the biologist’s rights to free expression under the First Amendment, as well as their rights to privacy.