Cite as: 513 U. S. 454 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
partments of Justice and Interior; and Bret Harte, an employee of the mint.9 Respondents have yet to make comparable contributions to American culture, but they share with these great artists important characteristics that are relevant to the issue we confront.
Even though respondents work for the Government, they have not relinquished "the First Amendment rights they would otherwise enjoy as citizens to comment on matters of public interest." Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty., 391 U. S. 563, 568 (1968). They seek compensation for their expressive activities in their capacity as citizens, not as Government employees. They claim their employment status has no more bearing on the quality or market value of their literary output than it did on that of Hawthorne or Melville. With few exceptions, the content of respondents' messages has nothing to do with their jobs and does not even arguably have any adverse impact on the efficiency of the offices in which they work. They do not address audiences composed of co-workers or supervisors; instead, they write or speak for segments of the general public. Neither the character of the authors, the subject matter of their expression, the effect of the content of their expression on their official duties, nor the kind of audiences they address has any relevance to their employment.
In Pickering and a number of other cases we have recognized that Congress may impose restraints on the job-related speech of public employees that would be plainly unconstitutional if applied to the public at large. See, e. g., Snepp v. United States, 444 U. S. 507 (1980). When a court is required to determine the validity of such a restraint, it must "arrive at a balance between the interests of the [employee],
9 See A. Turner, Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography 170-187 (1980); N. Arvin, Herman Melville 259-260 (1950); G. Allen, The Solitary Singer: A Critical Biography of Walt Whitman 319-321, 408 (1985); H. Merwin, The Life of Bret Harte 33-34 (1911).
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