Court Opinion

ID: 9465410
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:45:44.350246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:10.035699
License: Public Domain

WIDENER, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the opinion of the court and in the result; yet I would add a word.
I think this case has nothing to do with freedom of expression in the Pickering sense. The record discloses beyond doubt that this was the private complaint of a disgruntled deputy, disappointed that his name was not put in the local newspaper, who plainly intended to bait and insult the sheriff, his employer, and to claim immunity by the device of a letter, ostensibly at least, directed to the editor of the paper. The deputy could only have expected to be fired, which was what happened.