Arnett v. Kennedy

Mr. Justice Marshall,

with whom Mr. Justice Douglas and Mr. Justice Brennan concur, dissenting.

I would affirm the judgment of the District Court, both in its holding that a tenured Government employee must be afforded an evidentiary hearing prior, to a dismissal for cause and in its decision that 5 U. S. C. § 7501 is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad as a regulation of employees’ speech.

I

The first issue in this case is a relatively narrow one— whether a federal employee in the competitive service, entitled by statute to serve in his job without fear of *207dismissal except for cause,1 must be…