Court Opinion

ID: 9612225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:06:05.498683+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:20.190664
License: Public Domain

RALPH B. GUY, JR.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I agree that summary judgment was properly granted to the defendant on the plaintiffs due process claim, but respectfully dissent from the reversal of the decision granting summary judgment to the defendant on the First Amendment claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the state law wrongful discharge claim.
At the heart of my disagreement is my view that the evidence presented by Murphy herself demonstrated that her discharge was on account of her rival candidacy and not for her political beliefs or affiliations. Indeed, it was Murphy who testified that Cockrell not only told her to call the nominating committee and back out of the race, but also told her that she could keep her job if she dropped her candidacy. Cockrell conceded that they had candidly discussed the fact that only one of them would probably still be employed in the PVA office once the election was over. Notwithstanding evidence that the race was contentious and that Cockrell took umbrage at Murphy’s campaign literature impugning her experience and character, it is plain that Murphy’s rival candidacy was the motivation for the discharge. This case, therefore, cannot be distinguished from Carver, in which this court held that the plaintiff, a deputy court clerk and an at-will employee, had not established a protected First Amendment right to run against the defendant — the incumbent clerk and her supervisor — and still retain her job. Carver v. Dennis, 104 F.3d 847 (6th Cir.1997). Nor is this conclusion *456undermined by the fact that Murphy’s termination came only after the election results were known. See Myers v. Dean, 216 Fed.Appx. 552 (6th Cir.2007).
Finally, I am not persuaded by Murphy’s argument that Carver can be distinguished because she was discharged not only for the fact of her candidacy but also for the manner in which she campaigned. As the district court aptly observed, this turns “on the question of whether attacking your opponent’s political experience is akin to an expression of political beliefs.” As I see it, saying “I am a better or more experienced candidate than my boss” is nothing more than the assertion of a rival candidacy. I believe that the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn in this case is that Murphy was discharged for her rival candidacy and not on account of her political beliefs or affiliations.