公務人員匿名發表政治性言論之限制─以范蘭欽事件為討論中心

Abstract

言論自由為我國憲法明文所保障的基本權利，透過近年民主化下的政經發展與大法官會議的相關解釋更顯現其重要性與價值。然而，公務人員作為一種具公共性質的職業選擇，是否仍得主張該權利的享有？尤其在言論自由保障核心之政治性言論範圍內，往往因涉及行政中立、避免行政資源濫用及確保民眾對於政府機關執行政策之信賴感等利益考量下，選擇限縮公務人員的相關言論之發表方式與內容。 本文以范蘭欽事件為討論中心，從該事件背後所涵蓋的匿名發表言論之方式、公務人員言論自由之權利以及我國對於公務人員言論自由限制之相關法規範面等問題點切入，並將美國赫奇法、揭弊者保護法與聯邦最高法院的相關判決作為比較對象。嘗試藉此分析，探討「匿名發表」作為一種言論表述之形式，得否在公務人員言論自由保障與政府利益間，達成一個同時兼顧兩者的平衡點；另以納入匿名發表權利考量要素之公務人員言論自由審查架構，來檢視范蘭欽事件本身，透過言論發表者之身分、言論性質與利益衡量等階段，析論公懲會於該事件中之事實判斷與法規適用。 期盼透過以上的研究探討過程，說明我國對公務人員匿名發表政治性言論的相關限制內容及範圍，並作為往後相關研究與法規訂定之參考。

Freedom of speech is the foundamental right preserved by the Constitution. Its essence and value can be manifested through Judicial Interpretations as well as political and economical development under democratization in recent years. However, despite the publicness of this occupation, can public servants still claim the possession of such rights? On top of that, as far as administrative neutrality, avoidance of administrative resources abuse and assurance of public trust in policy enforcement is concerned, the content and ways of expression of certain statements by civil servants were usually restrained.

The discussion of my thesis is based on the ”Fan Lan-Qin event”. Focusing on the issues including the anonymous expression of one’s opinion, the rights of civil servants in the freedom of speech, and the limitation of the freedom of speech according to the law of our nation, I also take The hatch act, The whistleblower protection Act and the verdicts of Supreme Court of the United States for comparison in my discussion. I try to make clear that is it possible to find balance between the protection of the rights of public servants in the freedom of speech and the benefits of government as” anonymous expression “being a form of opinion delivery? Another purpose of my thesis is to analyze the judgment of fact and the appliances of law of the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries in the ”Fan Lan-Qin event”. I use an examining framework involving the rights of anonymous expression to inspect the event through several stages : the identity of the expresser, the tendency of one’s opinion, and the measurement of benefits. I hope this research and discussion can explain the content and the coverage of limitation in anonymous expression concerning politics about the public servants of our nation, and also could serve as a reference for further research and law making.