Supreme Court rules on political speech and the First Amendment
Source: yahoo
The case was brought by Jeffrey Heffernan, a police officer in Paterson, New Jersey, who was seen by fellow officers holding a yard sign for Lawrence Spagnola, a candidate in the city’s mayoral election. Heffernan picked up the sign at the behest of his mother and delivered it to her, but other officers who saw Heffernan with the sign quickly told his supervisors. Those supervisors believed that Heffernan was involved in the Spagnola campaign, and demoted him the next day for “overt involvement” in the election.
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But in a 6-2 decision, the Supreme Court reversed the Third Circuit’s decision. The majority opinion, authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, looks to the text of the First Amendment and the relevant federal statute that governs when one can bring suit in light of a violation of one’s constitutional rights.
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Throughout the opinion, the majority assumes that the supervisor’s interference with political speech was constitutionally impermissible, but the Justices note that there are exceptions that allow restrictions on the speech of government employees. If, for example the speech impedes the “efficiency” or “effective[ness]” of a government service, then a supervisor can legally punish a subordinate for that speech. The Court did not rule on whether, in this particular instance, this exception was applicable, instead instructing the lower courts to consider that question.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito filed a dissent, writing that “nothing in the text of §1983 provides a remedy against public officials who attempt but fail to violate someone’s constitutional rights.” They maintain that, in order to have a successful claim, Heffernan would need to have proven that his free speech rights were actually infringed upon. However, Heffernan did not actually support Spagnola’s campaign; although Heffernan was harmed, it did not amount to “the right kind of harm” under §1983. Still, the dissenters seem sympathetic to Heffernan, noting that “demoting a dutiful son who aids his elderly, bedridden mother may be callous, but it is not unconstitutional.”
The potential impact of this case on our understanding of the First Amendment is notable, as the Court expanded the notion of who can seek redress under a free speech claim. It determined that the actions and intentions of the government are more important than what aggrieved citizens are actually doing. It sent a signal that the Court is more interested in erring on the side of caution when it comes to fundamental constitutional rights.
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/supreme-court-rules-political-speech-first-amendment-093424839--politics.html?nhp=1
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