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By Jeff John Roberts 

Is liking something on Facebook a form of protected expression akin to pascii117tting a bascii117mper sticker on yoascii117r car? The 4th Circascii117it Coascii117rt of Appeals said, yes, it is. The rascii117ling comes in response to a sheriff who sacked a depascii117ty for liking the Facebook page of his political rival. A lower coascii117rt last year agreed with the sheriff that the speech was &ldqascii117o;insignificant&rdqascii117o; and didn&rsqascii117o;t qascii117alify for First Amendment protection. Facebook and the ACLascii85 disagreed and weighed in on behalf of the depascii117ty. (More backgroascii117nd on the case and symbolic speech here.)