The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled against two Tennessee police officers who sued the city after being fired for objecting to its proposed police reforms.

On appeal from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, the appeals court on May 2 affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the city of Jellico and against the officers, qualifying what is protected “citizen speech” and what is unprotected “employee speech.”