Opinion ID: 3025452
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Decisionmaker’s Bias

Text: Krentz also raises the specter of bias in the District board’s decision. The right to a fair and impartial decisionmaker forms an essential part of the protection afforded by the Due Process Clause. But Krentz must overcome a “presumption of honesty and integrity in policymakers with decision making power,” and show that the District board’s decision to terminate him was “infected with bias.” Hortonville Joint Sch. Dist. No. 1 v. Hortonville Educ. Ass’n, 426 U.S. 482, 497 (1976). Instead of demonstrating pervasive bias, Krentz raises mere accusations about a single board member’s views about labor unions. Krentz succeeds in showing that one of the board members may have harbored pro-union sentiment, an approach apparently in conflict with Krentz’s own views. But this showing falls far short of raising a factual dispute necessary to defeat summary judgment.