Google software engineer James Damore confirmed to Bloomberg on Monday that Google fired him for circulating a lengthy memo on his views that women are biologically less suited to tech work than men.

His “manifesto” was spread through Google’s internal communication channels over the weekend, and obtained by Gizmodo and other tech publications. Damore expressed his opinion that women are underrepresented in tech companies such as Google, not because of discrimination, but because, on average, women are naturally more inclined to concentrate on feelings rather than on ideas. Damore also professed his belief that women are more “neurotic” or prone to anxiety than men, as well as less competitive and more inclined to be collaborative.

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Stanford University law professor Richard Thompson Ford, who specializes in anti-discrimination law and workplace rights, says Damore has a slight, though not non-existent, chance at winning a lawsuit against Google over his firing.

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If winning his job back is Damore’s aim, a lawsuit could be an expensive and ultimately futile exercise. But if Damore wants to make his anti-diversity views part of acceptable public discourse, he may get somewhere by advancing the position—largely incorrect—that the First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech on the job, Ford says.

A lawsuit could give Damore’s anti-diversity opinions “a higher status even if they lose legally,” Ford says. “I do think you’re seeing a lot of uses of the First Amendment that are almost completely divorced from the First Amendment,” Ford says.