Well, none of us knows if she had a contract with each of the Borders she performs at or not. But MTed is the only one here who seems to know what he is talking about.

As I said, if this is a situation where a contract was signed between the Fredericksburg Borders store and the artist in question, then it is Borders who has violated that contract, not the artist. I agree with MTed that the artist may well have a case, perhaps an employment law case if she was legally an employee (unlikely), or perhaps an impingement of trade case, if a contract existed. It is clear that the artist's repertoire was known to the Borders managment, as they helped to promote her in-store appearances. One can't just break a contract because an artist does what they are contracted to do, because someone complains about the political speech content of the performance.

Considering all the positive attention the firing has garnered for her, if she did have a contract, I would hope that she would help others as well as herself, and hire a good attorney to sue Borders over the action, whether it be a contract or employment action. The action most certainly does have profound First Amendment implications, and that is what any lawsuit brought by her should focus upon, IMO.