On Monday, the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of former air marshal Robert MacLean against his former employer for wrongful dismissal. MacLean was reportedly fired in 2006 after he told reporters in 2003 that the Transportation Security Administration was pulling out the installation of undercover air marshals aboard flights bound from Las Vegas.
USA Today said that the Supreme Court will need to decide whether the regulations of the TSA regarding public disclosure of confidential information are overshadowed by a federal whistle-blower protection law which protects employees who have disclosed actions of agencies that represent a substantial and specific danger to public safety or health. Because the Supreme Court accepted to hear the case, the nation's top court is expected to hear arguments before the year ends, and that a decision will be handed out by June 2015, the news outlet reported.
MacLean's dismissal from service reportedly started when he was briefed about a potential plot to hijack US airplanes in July 2003 and a follow-up text message from TSA about its pullout of air marshals on overnight Las Vegas flights until early August. MacLean purportedly told both his supervisor and the department's inspector general that the TSA decision was not in the best interest of public safety, but was later told that there was nothing that could be done on the matter. MacLean then had tipped off MSNBC, who later published the former air marshal's story. The TSA had dropped its plans after it received criticism from the US Congress.
MacLean was unmasked later in an NBC interview that failed to cover up his real identity. After his firing, he then appealed his case to the Merit Systems Protection Board on the grounds that he has violated the law on information disclosure. In April 2013, USA Today said the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned the board decision and ordered them to reconsider MacLean's dismissal.
