Opinion ID: 780595
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Fuentes' First Amendment Rights

Text: 19 To prevail on a First Amendment claim asserted under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) the expression at issue was constitutionally protected, (2) the alleged retaliatory action adversely affected his constitutionally protected expression, and (3) a causal relationship existed between the constitutionally protected expression and the retaliatory action. Dawes v. Walker, 239 F.3d 489, 492 (2d Cir.2001), overruled in part on other grounds by, Phelps v. Kapnolas, 308 F.3d 180, 187 n. 6 (2d Cir.2002). As the District Court noted in Camacho I, Camacho's claim raises a somewhat complex legal issue. 56 F.Supp.2d at 374. Camacho is not claiming that he was fired from his position as a public employee in retaliation for exercising his own First Amendment freedoms. Nor is he claiming that he was fired because of his affiliation or association with a particular political party. Rather, he claims that he was fired in retaliation for Fuentes' activities. Thus, his claim must succeed or fail based on whether Fuentes' activities enjoyed the protection of the First Amendment. 20 Voting on public policy matters coming before a legislative body is an exercise of expression long protected by the First Amendment. See, e.g., Colson v. Grohman, 174 F.3d 498, 506 (5th Cir.1999). As the Supreme Court observed in Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116, 135-36, 87 S.Ct. 339, 17 L.Ed.2d 235 (1966), [t]he manifest function of the First Amendment in a representative government requires that legislators be given the widest latitude to express their views on issues of policy. 21 In addition, affiliating oneself with a political party or faction is also protected by the First Amendment. As the Supreme Court's explained in Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976), and Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), political affiliations of low-level political players are constitutionally protected from government retaliation, whereas political affiliations of policymakers are not similarly protected. 6 Courts that have examined First Amendment retaliation claims made by publicly elected officials against other publicly elected officials on the basis of political affiliation have thus found no First Amendment violation when the plaintiff was a policymaker. For example, in Romero-Barcelo v. Hernandez-Agosto, 75 F.3d 23, 34 (1st Cir.1996), the former governor of Puerto Rico, having just lost his bid for reelection, brought a Section 1983 action against elected members of the Puerto Rico Senate from the opposing political party, alleging that they violated his First Amendment right of association with his own political party by rigging legislative hearings to make it appear that he was involved in illegal activity, thereby costing him the election. The First Circuit held that the former governor most assuredly qualified as [a] policymaker and affirmed the district court's finding that there was no First Amendment protection for a politician whose rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to disassociate [oneself] from unpopular views have been injured by other politicians seeking to undermine his credibility within his own party and with the electorate. Id. (internal quotations omitted). Indeed, this conclusion is sensible because, if the court had allowed the lawsuit to go forward, it would have subjected to judicial review all sorts of politically motivated conduct committed within the confines of legislatures and best left within the legislative sphere. 22 Finally, in the context of government retaliation against nonelected public employees for exercising their First Amendment rights, the Supreme Court in Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968), established a balancing test for determining whether an employee's First Amendment rights were violated. A court applying the Pickering balancing test must determine whether the employee's right to express himself is outweighed by the government's interest in the effective operation of the workplace. In particular, a court must assess the extent of the disruption caused by the speech on workplace discipline, harmony among coworkers, working relationships, and the employee's job performance, and then determine whether the disruption justifies the government's stifling of the protected expression. Id. at 569-73, 88 S.Ct. 1731. 23 In First Amendment retaliation cases in which the government's retaliation is motivated by both expression protected under Pickering and political association unprotected under Elrod, our Court held in McEvoy v. Spencer, 124 F.3d 92 (2d Cir.1997), that there generally is no First Amendment violation when the plaintiff is a policymaker. We interpreted the Pickering line of Supreme Court cases as holding that the policymaking status of a plaintiff was very significant in the Pickering balance, but not conclusive. Id. at 103. Thus, while a plaintiff's policymaking role does not provide a defendant with complete insulation for any retaliatory action, it does weigh, normally heavily, on the defendant's side in the Pickering balance. Id.; see also id. at 102 (plaintiff's status as policymaker plays a significant but not dispositive role in Pickering balance). 24 Given all of the above, Camacho's claim as finally presented was insufficient as a matter of law. First, the uncontroverted evidence presented at trial established that Fuentes — in his capacity as a City Council member — was a quintessential policymaker. As elected officials, council members are exempt from civil service protection. N.Y. Civ. Serv. Law § 35(a) (McKinney 1999). They control others, such as Camacho. They are perceived as policymakers by members of the public. Their votes influence government programs. They have contact with other elected officials on the City Council. And they are responsive to partisan politics and political leaders. See Vezzetti v. Pellegrini, 22 F.3d 483, 486 (2d Cir.1994). Indeed, in its charge to the jury, the District Court stated that City Council members — and Fuentes in particular — were policy makers for the City of Yonkers. 7 Thus, because he was a policymaker, Fuentes' First Amendment claim could not succeed if Defendants retaliated against him for his political associations as well as his votes. To be sure, as a publicly elected official, Fuentes does not represent the typical Elrod/Branti plaintiff. But the policy rationales articulated in those decisions permitting a government employer to punish an unelected employee based on his political affiliations are equally applicable — if not stronger — where an individual or entity exercising governmental powers seeks to retaliate against a publicly elected official based on the latter's votes and political affiliations. This is especially so when that retaliation takes the form of separating the official from an aide with whom he had a close working relationship in the policymaking process. 8 Indeed, to hold otherwise would subject to litigation all manners and degrees of politically motivated, retaliatory conduct directed at public officials. 9 25 Second, the evidence introduced at trial, when viewed in a light most favorable to Camacho's theory of the case, 10 established that Defendants retaliated against Fuentes and the other Minority Coalition members based on their votes against the capital budget as well as on their decision to associate themselves with the Minority Coalition instead of with the Majority Coalition. Indeed, according to Camacho's unrebutted testimony, Majority Leader Burrows informed him four months before he was terminated that his job security would be in danger if Fuentes remained in the Minority Coalition and allied with Calvi. Accordingly, because the actions taken by Defendants were in retaliation for both political affiliation unprotected by virtue of the policymaker exception promulgated in Elrod/Branti (associating with the Minority Coalition instead of the Majority Coalition) and expression that would otherwise have been protected under Pickering (voting against the capital budget), Defendants, as a matter of law, are not liable for violating Fuentes' First Amendment rights. 11 26 We recognize that in reaching the conclusion that Camacho's claims as ultimately presented are legally insufficient to support a verdict in his favor, we are applying legal principles in a manner somewhat different from the manner in which Defendants have asked us to apply them. Both on appeal and in the District Court, Defendants focused on Camacho's political affiliations and status as a policymaker and the legal implications of that status, rather than on Fuentes' status as a policymaker and on what role, if any, Fuentes' political affiliations played in Defendants' termination of Camacho. In their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, Defendants argued that Camacho was a confidential secretary and as a matter of law, he is not allowed First Amendment protections. The District Court compounded this erroneous characterization by: (1) formulating the policymaker question in terms of whether Camacho, rather than Fuentes, was a policymaker; (2) submitting the case to the jury with instructions to find in favor of Camacho if it determined that Fuentes' exercise of his right to vote was a substantial or motivating factor in the [D]efendants' determination to terminate his employment; and (3) having instructed the jury that Fuentes was a policymaker, then failing to instruct the jury that it must find for Defendants if it was established by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendants' firing of Camacho was carried out in retaliation for Fuentes' vote on the capital budget and his political association with the Minority Coalition instead of the Majority Coalition. 27 In this Circuit, we reserve `considerable discretion' to review purely legal questions not formally raised in the district court. United States Lines (S.A.), Inc. v. United States (In re McLean Indus., Inc.), 30 F.3d 385, 387 (2d Cir.1994) (per curiam). As discussed above, Defendants moved in the District Court for both a directed verdict and judgment notwithstanding the verdict, albeit on grounds different from the ones we adopt here. 12 Furthermore, our disposition of Camacho's First Amendment claim involves only a question of law and is made based on both undisputed facts and facts viewed in a light most favorable to Camacho's theory of the case. Indeed, the legal principles on which we rely were urged by Camacho at trial. Camacho's proposed jury instructions regarding the violation of Fuentes' First Amendment rights stated that as a matter of law, Fuentes' association or alignment with other members of the City Council, dubbed in this case as the `[M]inority [C]oalition,' is also activity protected by the First Amendment. Camacho unsuccessfully defended this proposed instruction against Defendants' objection at the charging conference, arguing that the First Amendment rights of Mr. Fuentes to associate with Calvi and Balancio cannot be disputed. Camacho therefore cannot argue any unfair prejudice by our disposition of his appeal on a ground not advanced by Defendants' because, ironically, we do so based on legal theories that he advanced and facts that he sought to establish at trial.