“and most such contracts have a clause about being terminable at will at any time by either party - for any reason (or no reason). Same way that private sector employers can fire employees for their political beliefs/activities; the First Amendment just applies to actions by government entities, not actions by private sector individuals/employers.“
Does that include private companies that have government contracts?. Just curious.
Good point - when you’re a federal government contractor, generally in the contract there are provisions (required by statute) that as a contractor you will follow federal nondiscrimination policies/regulations. There’s no indication that there was a government contract here. Of course, even a private contractor is required to follow nondiscrimination laws (such as prohibited to make employment decisions based on the protected status/activities such as race, gender, religion, national origin, age (over 40), disability or perceived disability, union (or other protected concerted) activity, etc - but as far as I know there is not a protected category of political activity or identification. Otherwise a president appointing judges based on political leanings would be unlawful discrimination.