Court Opinion

ID: 9479338
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:15:05.554097+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:57.887510
License: Public Domain

MERRITT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting, with whom JONES, Circuit Judge, concurs.
In Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), the Supreme Court, unlike our Court in the instant case, does not make the political patronage issue turn on a technical distinction between “hiring” and “firing.” The distinction, as described by the Supreme Court, is a more fundamental issue of free speech: “the question is whether the hiring authority can demonstrate that party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved.” Id. at 518, 100 S.Ct. at 1295. That the Supreme Court believed that the First Amendment distinction to be drawn does not turn on technical distinctions between “hiring,” “firing,” “reemployment” or “reinstatement” is shown in its use of the phrase “selection or retention” in its statement that “it is difficult to formulate any [First Amendment] justification for tying either the selection or retention of an assistant public defender to his party affiliation.” Id. at 520 n. 14, 100 S.Ct. at 1295 (emphasis added). I do not understand what First Amendment values inhere in the distinction between “discharge” and “failure to rehire” seasonable maintenance employees. It is a hyper-technical, formalistic distinction unrelated to free speech and association or to principles allowing the clash of political beliefs.
Our Court does not try to justify its decision by showing that “party affiliation is an appropriate requirement” for these jobs. The Court concedes that the Collins administration in Kentucky declined to continue the seasonal employment of the plaintiffs in the state parks for two simple reasons: They are not Democrats and did not support Governor Collins. Not to save money. Not to improve the parks. Not to get better workers. Not to hire more women or African-Americans. Not even because the Governor believed that Kentucky Democrats need affirmative action. No one suggests that Democrats have been dispossessed in Kentucky or that there is an imbalance in the political job market in Frankfort that needs redress. The point is *226that these people are not Democrats and did not work in Governor Collins’ campaign. That’s politics, the Court says, American Style, in the great tradition of Jefferson and Jackson.
Like Justice Powell in dissent in Elrod, the Court makes an able argument supporting the American System of Political Patronage, but the Supreme Court in Elrod and Branti rejected these same arguments that our Court now makes. I have previously given my interpretation of the Supreme Court’s meaning in an opinion for our Court in Avery v. Jennings, 786 F.2d 233 (6th Cir.1986), and I adhere to the views the panel expressed there. The principles stated in Avery lead to a conclusion in this case contrary to our Court’s current majority view. In Avery we explained:
Under the first amendment, government actions receive a much higher degree of scrutiny when those actions are aimed at restricting the content of speech than when the burden on the protected activity is an incidental consequence of other legitimate governmental concerns. Compare Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 87 S.Ct. 675, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 (1967) (invalidating statute restricting employment of communists) with Kovacs v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77, 69 S.Ct. 448, 93 L.Ed. 513 (1949) (upholding limits on use of sound trucks in political campaigns) and Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 64 S.Ct. 438, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944) (upholding application of child labor laws to use of children for distribution of religious literature). See also L. Tribe, American Constitutional Law 580-81 (1978). In the instant case the officials in question had no firm rule, regulation, or established policy foreclosing employment based on political affiliation, but their hiring system had the effect of giving weight to party affiliation.
There is a significant difference between a patronage system that intentionally uses a strict political test as the standard for hiring or firing decisions, as in Elrod, Branti, Keyishian, [United Public Workers v.] Mitchell [330 U.S. 75, 67 S.Ct. 556, 91 L.Ed. 754 (1947)] and Wieman, supra, and a patronage system that relies on family, friends and political allies for recommendations. The former has a single end tied to political belief. The latter has multiple purposes — finding good employees, maintaining and extending personal and political relationships, creating cooperation and harmony among employees. The former is designed to call attention to political differences and punish those who differ. The latter is designed to enhance the official’s performance and political appeal. The former requires no weighing or balancing of factors by the elected official or the reviewing court. The latter takes into account many factors and nuances, conscious and unconscious, and its review would involve the federal courts in the complex and subjective hiring practices of elected officials at every level of government.
Id. at 236-37. The employment decision before us now, unlike Avery, is one “designed to call attention to political differences and punish those who differ.” That is the distinction we should maintain. Accordingly, I would hold that the state’s conduct violates the First Amendment and would grant relief to the plaintiffs.