From Idaho Att'y Gen. Op. No. 23-04, released Sept. 15 but not widely reported:
The No Public Funds for Abortion Act comprehensively prohibits the use of public funds to, among other things, "provide, perform, or induce an abortion; assist in the provision or performance of an abortion; promote abortion; counsel in favor of abortion; refer for abortion; or provide facilities for an abortion or for training to provide or perform an abortion." However, under a plain language interpretation of the Act applying appropriate canons of statutory construction, the Act does not prohibit university employees from speaking on abortion in their academic teaching or scholarship, even if that teaching or scholarship could be viewed as supporting abortion or abortion rights in general….
[T]he U.S. Supreme Court, in Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006), … held that "when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline." However, Garcetti also noted that "[t]here is some argument that expression related to academic scholarship or classroom instruction implicates additional constitutional interests that are not fully accounted for by this Court's customary employee-speech jurisprudence."
Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court has stated that "[o]ur Nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us and not merely to the teachers concerned." Keyishian v. Bd. (1967). "That freedom is therefore a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom." Thus, the majority in Garcetti determined that "[w]e need not, and for that reason do not, decide whether the analysis we conduct today would apply in the same manner to a case involving speech related to scholarship or teaching." … In Demers v. Austin (9th Cir. 2014), the court held that "Garcetti does not-indeed, consistent with the First Amendment, cannot-apply to teaching and academic writing that are performed pursuant to the official duties of a teacher and professor." Similarly, courts in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth circuits, in addition to the Ninth Circuit, have held that Garcetti does not apply to professors at public universities while engaging in teaching and scholarship….
