Supreme Court Divided Over First Amendment Case Involving Demoted New Jersey Cop
In 2005, a police officer from Paterson, New Jersey faced a demotion from work after his boss mistakenly assumed that he was backing a political challenger in themayoral race. Following his demotion, Jeffery Heffernan claimed that his superiors at the Paterson Police Department violated his right to free speech.
Recently, the Supreme Court justices found themselves engaged in a heated debate on Heffernan's First Amendment Case, ABC News reported. During an oral argument, most of the justices agreed that the First Amendment protects public employees in the exercise of their free speech rights. However, a debate sparked off over the issue about the fate of a public official who has been demoted because of a "mistaken belief" that he engaged in "overt" political activities.
"The First Amendment talks about abridging freedom of speech, and I thought the case came to us on the proposition that he wasn't engaging in a speech at all," said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. He added that he was uncertain how Heffernan "can say his freedom of speech has been abridged."
According to the Washington Post, Heffernan's case bounced from one lower court to the other. While he may have won once, the ruling of the third Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals overturned the decision saying that he could not claim that a violation was committed based on the First Amendment because he did not actually exercise such rights.
"He may have a state law right; he does have a collective-bargaining-agreement right, but he doesn't have a First Amendment right because he's not engaging in First Amendment-protected activity," said City Lawyer Thomas Goldstein.
Ginger D. Anders, the assistant solicitor general, remarked that Heffernan "has a First Amendment right not to have adverse action taken against him by his employer for the unconstitutional purpose of suppressing disfavored political beliefs."
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia told Heffernan's lawyer, Mark Frost, that there is no existing "constitutional right not to be fired for the wrong reason."
According to Fox News a decision on this case is expected to be released in June.
