Opinion ID: 442826
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legal Precedents.

Text: 12 The seminal Supreme Court cases dealing with public employee terminations based on political affiliations are Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976), and Branti v. Finkle, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980). In Elrod, a plurality of the Court held that the newly elected Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, could not terminate employees merely because they were not members of the Democratic Party and failed to obtain the sponsorship of one of its leaders. Elrod v. Burns, supra, 427 U.S. at 351, 96 S.Ct. at 2678. Writing for the plurality, Justice Brennan reasoned that because the sheriff's employees had to join and work for the Democratic Party in order to retain their jobs, the system necessarily coerced employees into compromising their true beliefs. In his view, this use of governmental power to prescribe political beliefs struck at the heart of the first amendment and thus the patronage system in its blanket application to all employees at all levels of government work was unconstitutional. Id. at 356-357, 96 S.Ct. at 2681-2682. 13 Justice Brennan further reasoned that an unconstitutional condition may not be placed on the receipt of a public benefit. See Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 597, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 2697, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972); Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 605, 87 S.Ct. 675, 684, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 (1967). In Perry, the Court stated: 14 For at least a quarter-century, this Court has made clear that even though a person has no right to a valuable governmental benefit and even though the government may deny him the benefit for any number of reasons, there are some reasons upon which the government may not rely. It may not deny a benefit to a person on a basis that infringes his constitutionally protected interests--especially, his interest in freedom of speech. For if the government could deny a benefit to a person because of his constitutionally protected speech or associations, his exercise of those freedoms would in effect be penalized and inhibited. This would allow the government to produce a result which [it] could not command directly.    Such interference with constitutional rights is impermissible. 15 Perry v. Sindermann, supra, 408 U.S. at 597, 92 S.Ct. at 2697 (citation omitted). 16 Justice Brennan concluded that a person's political beliefs could not be the sole basis for depriving him or her of continued public employment unless the government could demonstrate an overriding interest. Elrod v. Burns, supra, 427 U.S. at 368, 96 S.Ct. at 2687. Justice Stewart's concurring opinion accepted this latter ground for invalidating dismissals based on political affiliation. 17 As both opinions in Elrod recognized, party affiliation may sometimes be an acceptable requirement for some types of government employment. Public employees' first amendment rights may have to yield to the government's vital interest in maintaining governmental effectiveness and efficiency if their private political beliefs would interfere with their public duties. Id. at 366, 96 S.Ct. at 2686. The plurality concluded, however, that the governmental interest in effectiveness and efficiency is only seriously threatened when an employee with an opposition party viewpoint is in a policymaking and confidential position. Employees in those positions are thus vulnerable to dismissal for their political affiliation. Id. at 372-375, 96 S.Ct. at 2689-2691. 18 In Branti v. Finkel, supra, 445 U.S. at 518-519, 100 S.Ct. at 1294-1295; the Supreme Court clarified the criteria to be used in determining which employee positions are not protected under Elrod. In Branti, two Republican assistant public defenders were fired from their jobs when a Democrat was appointed as their supervisor. The supervisor contended on appeal that assistant public defenders hold policymaking and confidential positions and should be subject to firing when a new party takes power. 1 The Court disagreed, holding that the inquiry is whether political affiliation is an appropriate requirement for a position, not whether it is confidential or policymaking in nature. The court recognized that some employees make policy and receive confidences about matters wholly unrelated to their political viewpoint. The court compared a football coach to a governor's aide. Both make policy, but only the latter's political affiliation is relevant to those policies. The Court concluded that allegiance to a political party is not an appropriate condition of employment for a public defender whose primary responsibility is to represent citizens in controversy with the state. 19