Opinion ID: 524995
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pickering/Connick Balance

Text: 46 Because Moore's speech addresses a matter of public concern, we proceed to the second step of our Pickering/Connick inquiry. Pickering requires that we determine whether the interest of the employer in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees outweighs Moore's and the public's interest in his speech that addresses a matter of public concern. See Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 568, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1734, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). The City bears the burden of producing evidence which shows its interest in disciplining Moore for his speech. Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 2892, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987); Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 150, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1691-1692, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). The strength of the city interest that the City must demonstrate depends on the strength of the speech interest in the scale's other pan. In Connick, the Supreme Court corrected a district court that misapprehended this balancing process. The Supreme Court stated: 47 The District Court viewed the issue of whether Myers' speech was upon a matter of public concern as a threshold inquiry, after which it became the government's burden to clearly demonstrate that the speech involved substantially interfered with official responsibilities. Yet Pickering unmistakably states, and respondent agrees, that the State's burden in justifying a particular discharge varies depending upon the nature of the employee's expression. Although such particularized balancing is difficult, the courts must reach the most appropriate possible balance of the competing interests. 48 Connick, 461 U.S. at 150, 103 S.Ct. at 1691. Naturally, we will not consider either side's interest in a vacuum. The manner, time, and place of the employee's expression are relevant, as is the context in which the dispute arose. Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 2898, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987).
49 On the freedom of expression side of the balance, both Moore and the public have a strong interest in Moore's speech. The effectiveness of Fire Department services concerns the people of the City of Kilgore. Moore's informed speech provides the public with valuable information that is otherwise difficult to obtain unless an informed person speaks out. Moore also has a significant interest in speaking on this issue. Dissemination of information throughout the community may bring the community's suasion to bear on the issue of the effectiveness of the Fire Department. See Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 572, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1736, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968) (Teachers are, as a class, the members of the community most likely to have informed and definite opinions as to how funds alloted to the operation of the schools should be spent [a matter of public concern.] Accordingly, it is essential that they be able to speak out freely on such questions without fear of retaliatory dismissal). A speaker hopes that his or her speech will set afire the political conscience of the community. As an informed citizen, Moore's comments and insights constituted powerful knowledge concerning the effectiveness of the public entity, the Fire Department. In the long term, his speech is likely to help produce a fire department that is increasingly responsive to the needs of the citizenry. 50 The timing of Moore's speech certainly tilts in favor of the public nature of the speech; the speech occurred in response to two firefighters receiving injuries, one fatally, while fighting a fire. As to the manner, a portion of the speech was a bit acidic (I told you so). But the speech as a whole was directed more to the fire and the department's staffing than it was to Moore's past discussions with the City. The speech arose in the midst of a continuing dispute concerning the ability of the Fire Department to fight fires effectively. Moore hoped to spark a roaring and robust public debate concerning the issue. See New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270, 84 S.Ct. 710, 720, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964) ([D]ebate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open). 51 Thus, the interests of both Moore and the citizens of Kilgore in Moore's speech are extremely significant. Moore's speech does not merely touch upon matters of public concern in a marginal manner. His speech, considered as a whole, dwells at the center of the First Amendment, unlike in Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. at 150, 154, 103 S.Ct. at 1691, 1693, (1983), in which the employee's questionnaire distributed to co-workers touched upon matters of public concern only in a more limited sense. 52
53 The other side of the Pickering/Connick balancing test focuses on the City's interest in effective governance. To evaluate this element, we must examine the City's justification for taking disciplinary action against Moore in relation to the City's legitimate interest in the effective functioning of the public employer's enterprise. Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 378, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 2898-99, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987); Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 150, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1691, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). Our inquiry focuses on the effective functioning of the public employer's enterprise. Interference with work, personnel relationships, or the speaker's job performance can detract from the public employer's function; avoiding such interference can be a strong [city] interest. Rankin v. McPherson, 107 S.Ct. at 2899. 54 In evaluating whether the City has met its burden of justifying its action, we consider the Rankin Court's summary of several pertinent considerations: 55 whether the statement impairs discipline by superiors or harmony among coworkers, has a detrimental impact on close working relationships for which personal loyalty and confidence are necessary, or impedes the performance of the speaker's duties or interferes with the regular operation of the enterprise. 56 Rankin v. McPherson, 483 U.S. 438, 107 S.Ct. 2891, 2899, 97 L.Ed.2d 315 (1987). 57 The City offers three reasons--insubordination, impaired arson prosectution, and a desire to disseminate accurate information--to justify its action in disciplining Moore for his speech. We will discuss each City interest in turn. 58 The first offered reason, insubordination, requires some explanation. From Ron Cox's viewpoint as the City Manager, Cox believed that he and Moore had reached an agreement during a meeting in Cox's office on December 26, 1985 held at approximately 3:00 p.m. Cox believed Moore breached their agreement when Moore spoke on matters beyond an expression of condolence for the families of the deceased and the injured firefighters. In the disciplinary memorandum that Cox presented to Moore during the December 31, 1985 disciplinary meeting, Cox wrote, 59 You have misrepresented to me your intentions. You had stated you would say no more than what we had discussed and agreed upon, and proceeded to discuss with the media what you considered the facts to be regarding the fire. This, again, is insubordination. For your information, insubordination is defined in the dictionary as not being subordinate or obedient. To be subordinate is to be subject or subservient to another. It is our responsibility and duty as employees to be subject to the rules and regulations of the City. 60 Mr. Moore, you are an employee of this City. You are not expected to agree with every policy or every directive that is given to you, but you are expected to follow them. You have been supplied with a copy of the Fire Department Rules and Regulations and are expected to know what those rules and regulations are. In addition, you were directed verbally to refrain from any discussion of the events surrounding the fire. This flagrant insubordination cannot and will not be tolerated. As a result, disciplinary action must be taken. 61 Cox disciplined Moore for what Cox ostensibly viewed as insubordinate speech. Mr. Cox also had transcribed the disciplinary meeting on December 31, 1985 during which Cox presented Moore with the memorandum quoted in part above. During the disciplinary meeting, Cox said, If your personal opinion is contrary to [the City's] policies, then you've got two choices, Gary, you can work within those policies and work internally within proper channels to express your opinions and to possibly get those changed. If that is needed. If they're not changed and if you continue to be dissatisfied, you can leave. [Plaintiff's exhibit 3, page 6). 62 For the City Fire Department to function efficiently, discipline and respect for management authority are important to the City. The City does have a legitimate interest in promoting a well-ordered fire department. But discipline for more abstract and attenuated management purposes that do not directly relate to the actual fighting of fires--the primary responsibility of the Fire Department--is an interest of lesser magnitude than discipline that relates directly to the business of fighting fires. The City presented no evidence that Moore's insubordinate statement interfered in any way with the actual fighting of fires. 63 A fire department should be a disciplined, well-oiled unit of firefighters because when firefighters arrive on the scene of a blazing, dangerous fire, the members of the unit must work together in an effective manner to protect the lives of the citizens and themselves and to extinguish the fire as soon as possible. Discipline directed towards the goal of fighting a fire effectively is the backbone of a high quality fire department. 64 The type of discipline that the City imposed upon Moore is different. It concerns the City government as a whole organization and Moore as a city employee. In this situation, the concentration of discipline necessary to regulate employee behavior is significantly more diffuse. Some degree of discipline is desirable but strict, marine-like control is not necessarily appropriate to the running of a city as an organization. 4 65 The key fact in this case is not that Moore is a firefighter; rather, it is that Moore is a city employee. Cox, the City Manager, attempted to maintain control over the City's employees by rendering them obedient and subservient. If Moore had been a typist in the Fire Department, presumably Cox would have required the same degree of discipline and loyalty. As we stated before, the City has a legitimate interest in maintaining a disciplined force of City employees. But that interest is of lesser weight than the interest in discipline needed within the Fire Department itself, discipline that allows the members of the department to act as an effective fire-fighting unit when the moment arrives. 66 Cox's view, that Moore as a public employee could either function within the no-speech rules or Moore could leave, was unchallenged dogma for a large part of this century. Justice Holmes, then sitting on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, stated it best when he wrote [A policeman] may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman. McAuliffe v. Mayor of New Bedford, 155 Mass. 216, 220, 29 N.E. 517, 518 (1892); see Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 143-44, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1688, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). 67 An employee does not abandon his or her First Amendment rights when the employee agrees to work for a public entity. This balancing methodology that we utilize is meant to protect the employee's speech regarding matters of public concern without overburdening the public employer's ability to function effectively in its assigned tasks. Creating room for free speech in a hierarchical organization necessarily involves inconveniencing the employer to some degree. Speech concerning public affairs usually creates attendant inefficiencies in the running of the public entity. But efficiency is not an end-all and be-all goal of a democracy. Speech among the people helps to maintain the vitality of self-government. See Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 145, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1689, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983). For as Sir Winston Churchill stated: 68 Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. 69 Address by Sir Winston Churchill, House of Commons (Nov. 11, 1947), reprinted in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations 150 (3d ed. 1979). 70 Moore's speech, which Cox views as insubordinate, does burden the efficient operation of the City as an organization. However, keeping in mind that Moore's speech does not hinder the ability of the Fire Department to perform its primary task--fighting fires--we find that the City's burden due to insubordination is minimal. In addition, the City presented no evidence, other than Cox's views, that Moore's arguable insubordination disrupted the work of the City. See Rankin, 107 S.Ct. at 2899. 71 The second interest the City relies upon to balance out the weighty interest in Moore's speech focuses upon arson. Cox summarized how Moore's speech affected the City's interest concerning an arson investigation. The portion of Moore's speech that concerned Cox was: 72 This was just an ordinary structure fire .... What's going to happen when something major happens? We're dealing with shortage of manpower. It may not have made a difference in B.J. Hawthorne's heart attack. We really don't know. But there was no doubt that it contributed to Capt. Jackson's injury. 73 Then during direct examination of Cox, Cox stated, 74 I think a defense lawyer on behalf of that individual who's charged with that would use Mr. Moore's statement as an authoritative statement, someone on behalf of the City of Kilgore in some manner, as being one of fact that it wasn't arson, it was ordinary, and would have a tendency to bias those people making a decision, whether it be a Jury or a Judge ... with regard to his contention that there's a manpower shortage, I would think that, if I were a defense lawyer, I would be trying to mold the Jury's mind to believe that the house was not destroyed by the arson alone, but by virtue of the fact that the City did not have enough people to handle the fire itself. 75 Tr. at 54-55. 76 The City has an interest in promoting its ability to prosecute an arson case. Any damage Moore's ordinary structure fire comment could inflict upon a potential arson prosecution by the City would be very minimal. In regard to the phrase ordinary structure fire, Moore's explanation of his usage could certainly be brought out by the prosecutor in an arson case to rebut whatever defense inference was available. Moore stated, on direct examination in this case, What I'm referring to as an ordinary structure fire was that this was not a plant or a major structure of any kind. It was a medium size house. It was not an oil related fire. It was just, as far as I'm concerned, an ordinary structure fire, which would be an ordinary house fire. 77 As to Moore's manpower shortage comment, this comment could slightly affect an arson prosecution, but such an interference would be insubstantial. Any arson prosecution will be won or lost on the physical evidence (presence of an incendiary agent, damage to the structure as evidence of the cause of the fire, and motive and opportunities of the suspect). Moore's comment concerning the shortage of firefighters would not substantially interfere with the City's prosecution of an arson suspect. The City's interest in a potential arson prosecution is a flicker of a candle's flame compared with the radiating incandescence of Moore's speech. 78 The third interest the City asserts as legitimate is its desire to control the flow of information so that the City can ensure that speakers disseminate only accurate information. Cox stated on recross-examination that all of the statements [by Moore] were important, because of the impact they have on the public's perception of what happened; ... [if] it turned out that Mr. Moore didn't have the facts and if we're going to be quoted, we need to be accurate. (Tr. at 73). 79 Two considerations militate against the City's third proffered interest. The first is a consideration of timing. The second consideration concerns the interplay between the content of Moore's speech and the City's burden of proof. 80 The City's interest in an accurate flow of information is not absolute and does not enjoy durational eternity. Before Moore spoke the City held a press conference concerning the fire at which the City had ample opportunity to express its official view of the fire. In this case, the City's press conference occurred the next morning, December 27, 1985, after the fire. Moore's different angle on the same occurrence is precisely what encompasses the thrust of the public's interest in Moore's speech. Thus, any legitimate government interest in controlling the flow of accurate information dissipates after the public entity has had an opportunity to present its view, an opportunity that the City utilized in this case. 81 As to the second point, that the City viewed some of Moore's comments as misstatements, the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan standard applies. Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563, 572-74, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1736-37, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968); see generally New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Before the City's interest in the accurate dissemination of information may carry any weight in the Pickering/Connick balance, the City must prove that Moore made false statements of fact with either knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard of their truth or falsity. Pickering, 391 U.S. at 573-74, 88 S.Ct. at 1737. The City made no such showing in this case. It introduced no evidence that even begins to approach the New York Times standard. Thus, we accord no weight under the Pickering/Connick balancing test to the City's proffered interest in the control of the flow of information following the fire.
82 We have examined the interests of the public and Moore in Moore's speech, which addressed matters of public concern. Moore's speech is of significant importance concerning the people's ability to govern themselves in the City of Kilgore, Texas. Now we must decide whether the City's three asserted interests, as a whole, outweigh the great magnitude of the interests of both Moore and the public in Moore's speech. The insubordination interest, in regard to the City as an entity, burdens the efficient operation of the City as an organization, but the burden is minimal. The interest concerning the City's ability to prosecute an arson case also has merit, but it does not approach a level of substantiality by itself that significantly affects our inquiry. The third proffered interest--the desire to control the flow of information--has no weight in this case. Combining the City's interests concerning insubordination and arson, we find that the side of the scales containing the interest in Moore's speech is firmly planted on the ground while the City's two interests dangle high above. The Pickering/Connick balancing test weighs heavily in Moore's favor. 83 The City does not dispute that it disciplined Moore based on the content of his speech. (Appellee's brief at 7). Thus, we conclude that Moore was disciplined for expressing constitutionally protected speech in contravention of his First Amendment freedom of speech rights. We reverse the judgment of the district court on this issue. The district court, because of its holding, did not have to reach the issue of appropriate relief. Thus, we remand the case to the district court for a trial on the issue of appropriate relief. We intimate no view concerning what the correct measure of damages, beyond nominal damages, would be in this case. See Memphis Community School District v. Stachura, 477 U.S. 299, 106 S.Ct. 2537, 2544-46, 91 L.Ed.2d 249 (1986); Carey v. Piphus, 435 U.S. 247, 254-59, 98 S.Ct. 1042, 1047-50, 55 L.Ed.2d 252 (1978). 84