Department of Homeland Security, Petitioner v. Robert J. MacLean.

Summary

The Court held that the Whistleblower Protection Act’s exemption for disclosures 'specifically prohibited by law' excludes regulations and a statute that only authorizes an agency to promulgate regulations prohibiting disclosure. MacLean's disclosure was protected because the agency regulation banning it and the statute authorizing it did not qualify as a specific prohibition by law. Justice Sotomayor, dissenting, argued that the statute imposing a congressional directive to prohibit such disclosures constitutes a statutory prohibition.