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(Slip Opinion) Cite as: 601 U. S. ____ (2024) 1 

Per Curiam 

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 

United States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of 

Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, 

pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

No. 22–324 

MICHELLE O’CONNOR-RATCLIFF, ET AL., 

PETITIONERS v. CHRISTOPHER 

GARNIER, ET UX. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 

APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

[March 15, 2024]

 PER CURIAM. 

In 2014, Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T. J. Zane created public Facebook pages to promote their campaigns for

election to the Poway Unified School District (PUSD) Board

of Trustees. While O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane (whom we 

will call the Trustees) both had personal Facebook pages

that they shared with friends and family, they used their

public pages for campaigning and issues related to PUSD. 

After they won election, the Trustees continued to use their

public pages to post PUSD-related content, including

board-meeting recaps, application solicitations for board 

positions, local budget plans and surveys, and public safety 

updates. They also used their pages to solicit feedback and

communicate with constituents. Their Facebook pages described them as “Government Official[s]” and noted their 

official positions. O’Connor-Ratcliff also created a public 

Twitter page, which she used in much the same way.

Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, who have children attending PUSD schools, often criticized the board of trustees. 

They began posting lengthy and repetitive comments on the 

Trustees’ social-media posts—for instance, nearly identical 
 

2 O’CONNOR-RATCLIFF v. GARNIER 

Per Curiam 

comments on 42 separate posts on O’Connor-Ratcliff ’s Facebook page and 226 identical replies within a 10-minute 

span to every tweet on her Twitter feed. The Trustees initially deleted the Garniers’ comments before blocking them 

from commenting altogether.

The Garniers sued the Trustees under 42 U. S. C. §1983,

seeking damages and declaratory and injunctive relief for 

the alleged violation of their First Amendment rights. At 

summary judgment, the District Court granted the Trustees qualified immunity as to the damages claims but allowed the case to proceed on the merits on the ground that

the Trustees acted “under color of ” state law when they 

blocked the Garniers. §1983.

The Ninth Circuit affirmed. It held that §1983’s stateaction requirement was satisfied because there was a “close 

nexus between the Trustees’ use of their social media pages 

and their official positions.” 41 F. 4th 1158, 1170 (2022). 

The court cited its own state-action precedent, which holds

that an off-duty state employee acts under color of law if

she (1) “purports to or pretends to act under color of law”; 

(2) her “pretense of acting in the performance of [her] duties

had the purpose and effect of influencing the behavior of 

others”; and (3) the “harm inflicted on plaintiff related in

some meaningful way either to the officer’s governmental

status or to the performance of [her] duties.” Ibid. (citing 

Naffe v. Frey, 789 F. 3d 1030, 1037 (CA9 2015); internal 

quotation marks and alterations omitted). Applying that 

framework, the court found state action based largely on

the official “appearance and content” of the Trustees’ pages.

41 F. 4th, at 1171. 

We granted certiorari in this case and in Lindke v. Freed, 

___ U. S. ___ (2024), to resolve a Circuit split about how to 

identify state action in the context of public officials using 

social media. 598 U. S. ___ (2023). Because the approach

that the Ninth Circuit applied is different from the one we

have elaborated in Lindke, we vacate the judgment below 
Cite as: 601 U. S. ____ (2024) 3 

Per Curiam 

and remand the case to the Ninth Circuit for further proceedings consistent with our opinion in that case. 

It is so ordered.