Supreme Court rules public officials cannot block critics on social media, even from personal accounts

If you are a public official who uses social media, be careful about hitting that “block” button. The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that in some cases, public officials can be sued for blocking their critics, even if they are posting from their individual accounts. The court decision tried to resolve the line between public and private activity on social media. In a unanimous decision, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that when government employees make official statements with their personal accounts, they need to at least allow pushback from the public. Supreme Court rules public officials can sometimes be sued for blocking critics on social media  – Associated Press

 

There is a new director for the federal agency in charge of security clearances. The Defense Department has picked David Cattler to take over the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. Cattler has previously served as an intelligence enterprise mission manager in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Most recently, he served as assistant secretary general for intelligence and security at NATO. Cattler replaces Acting Director Daniel Lecce, who has been serving in an acting capacity since September 2023 and who will return to the position of deputy director. Cattler’s appointment will be effective March 24.(New Director for Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency  – Defense Department

 

The General Services Administration has taken another step, with yet another workaround, to make buying cloud services easier for agencies, and bring it more in line with industry standards. GSA issued its second acquisition letter in just over two years on Friday, giving its contracting officers permission to move closer to buying cloud services “by the drink,” or through a consumption-based model. GSA’s memo said under certain conditions, agencies can use upfront payments to buy software-as-a-service. The letter also said if agencies meet these six requirements, then buying SaaS does not violate federal procurement law prohibiting advanced payments.(GSA aims to make buying SaaS easier through new policy  – Federal News Network

 

The White House’s budget request highlights a long-standing pay issue for some federal employees. The Biden administration said it wants to look at possible ways to address a phenomenon called “pay compression” for federal employees. Some senior-level feds do not get the full federal pay raise each year, due to legal pay caps. In the 2025 budget request, the Biden administra

tion said it is considering several potential responses to the issue. Those include possibilities like increasing Executive Schedule pay bands, or modifying how pay rates get adjusted each year. But so far, the administration has not put forward an official legislative proposal.

Fiscal 2025 budget request: Strengthening the federal workforce analytical perspectives section  – Office of Management and Budget