Qu'ran Burner Wins Lawsuit

On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, September 11, 2010, in front of the controversial Ground Zero Park51 Mosque, Derek Fenton, inspired by Pastor Terry Jones, the Florida clergyman who threatened to burn the Qu’ran that same day, actually did burn pages from the Muslim holy book. Two days later, on the grounds he violated the code of ethics, Fenton was fired from his 11-year career job at the NJTransit after photos of him ripping pages from a Koran and burning them appeared in newspapers.

NJ Governor Chris Christie defended the firing, along with others who felt that freedom of speech has its limits when it incites violence. However, NJ Senator Raymond Lesniak and others expressed Fenton’s constitutional right to these actions, which took place on his own time and not as a representative of NJTransit.

On November 5th, 2010, Fenton filed a lawsuit thru the ACLU, which stated the dismissal violated his constitutional right to free expression. He sought getting his job back and monetary damages. On Friday, April 22, The NJ Star Ledger newspaper reported that Fenton was vindicated by the court and is getting his job back, along with all his back pay, legal fees, and money for pain and suffering. (Link: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/nj_transit_employee_fired_for.html

This is truly a victory for freedom of speech, especially in the growing environment of political correctness and tolerance towards Islamic intolerance.