Court Opinion

ID: 9477772
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:30:44.210725+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:02.243295
License: Public Domain

RIPPLE, Circuit Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I join that part of the court’s judgment dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims, brought as voters, which assert that the patronage system deprives them of “equal access and effectiveness of elections.” R. 1 at 1124(d). As the majority notes, that aspect of this case is governed by our holding in Shakman v. Dunne, 829 F.2d 1387 (7th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 108 S.Ct. 1026, 98 L.Ed.2d 991 (1988).
I also concur in that portion of the judgment that remands the claims of Cynthia Rutan, Franklin Taylor, Ricky Standefer, and Dan O’Brien to the district court for further procee lings. However, I respectfully part company with my brothers on the appropriate test that ought to be applied upon remand. Today, the majority adopts the wooden analysis of Delong v. United States, 621 F.2d 618 (4th Cir.1980), a test formulated immediately after the Supreme Court’s decision in Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S. 507, 100 S.Ct. 1287, 63 L.Ed.2d 574 (1980), and one that has not gained respect in the other circuits that have had the time to take a more measured view of the holding of Branti. As the majority points out, the Third Circuit has explicitly disavowed the Delong approach in Bennis v. Gable, 823 F.2d 723 (3d Cir. 1987). Moreover, this circuit and the Eleventh Circuit have also taken far more reasoned approaches to the analysis of Branti and Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976). See Hermes v. Hein, 742 F.2d 350, 353 (7th Cir.1984); Waters v. Chaffin, 684 F.2d 833, 837 n. 9 (11th Cir.1982).1
Although the Delong test attempts to apply the Elrod criteria to cases not involving discharge, its approach is an illusory one. It places an unrealistic burden of proof on the plaintiff and creates an impossible judicial task. To succeed, the plaintiff must establish that, although a reasonable person would resign under such pressure to his first amendment rights, he has decided to “hang on.” It is not surprising that the Delong test would produce such an unrealistic burden of proof; it is premised on a fundamental misapprehension of the analysis required by established first amendment jurisprudence. As the Third Circuit noted in Bennis, “the constitutional violation is not in the harshness of the sanction applied, but in the imposition of any disciplinary action for the exercise of permissible free speech.” 823 F.2d at 731 (footnote omitted). The government must establish that the particular restriction on first amendment freedoms which it desires to impose can be justified by the important needs of the government. See Connick v. Myers, 461 U.S. 138, 142, 103 S.Ct. 1684, 1687, 75 L.Ed.2d 708 (1983); Pickering v. Board of Educ., 391 U.S. 563, 568, 88 S.Ct. 1731, 1734, 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968); Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 605-06, 87 S.Ct. 675, 684-85, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 (1967); see also McGill v. Board of Educ. of Pekin Elementary School Dist. No. 108, 602 F.2d 774, 780 (7th Cir.1979). If the government cannot justify the need to restrict the first amendment freedoms of an individual for an important governmental reason, it may not impose any punishment on that individual for the exercise of his first amendment rights. By contrast, the majority’s approach is simply a manifestation of its willingness to tolerate “mi*1413nor punishment” for the legitimate exercise of first amendment rights. The majority tells the public employee that, even if the government has no legitimate need to curtail his first amendment rights, it may subject him to discrimination and any other form of abuse as long as it does not go too far and create a situation where a reasonable employee would say “enough” and resign. Such a statement of the law is simply not correct. See Connick, 461 U.S. at 142, 103 S.Ct. at 1687; Branti, 445 U.S. at 515 n. 10, 100 S.Ct. at 1293 n. 10. As this court noted in Bart v. Telford, 677 F.2d 622, 625 (7th Cir.1982), “[t]he effect on freedom of speech may be small, but since there is no justification for harassing people for exercising their constitutional rights it need not be great in order to be actionable.” 2
The majority’s holding today will subject countless dedicated government workers, for whom party affiliation is not an “appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved,” Branti, 445 U.S. at 518, 100 S.Ct. at 1295, to harassment because they have chosen not to contribute to or work for a particular candidate or cause. For instance, the clerical worker who has strong views on the abortion issue and refuses to support a candidate of opposing views may now be passed over for promotion, denied transfer to a more favorable location, or assigned the most undesirable tasks in the office. The worker who decides not to support a particular candidate because, in the worker’s view, the candidate is not committed to racial equality can be treated in identical fashion. This growing acceptance of infringements bn first amendment rights on the ground that the curtailment is minor is ind1eed a disturbing trend. “It may be that it is the obnoxious thing in its mildest and least repulsive form; but illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing in that way....” Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635, 6 S.Ct. 524, 535, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1886).3
I must also respectfully dissent from the decision to affirm that portion of the district court’s judgment that dismisses on the complaint the allegation of James Moore that his freedom of association was violated by the policy of the state to hire only those applicants who were determined to be politically acceptable. Patronage hiring admittedly presents a different situation from politically based firings and adverse personnel actions against state employees. However, as the majority appears to concede, the use of political criteria in the hiring process does implicate first amendment rights. Therefore, it must be determined whether the state’s purpose in utilizing such politically based criteria serves a sufficiently important governmental inter*1414est to permit the curtailment of first amendment freedoms.
The fundamental flaw in the majority’s approach is that it pays only lip service to the basic standard governing dismissals under Rule 12(b)(6):
In appraising the sufficiency of the complaint we follow, of course, the accepted rule that a complaint should not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.
Conley v. Gibson, 365 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 102, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957). In complex cases involving both fundamental rights and important questions of public policy, such peremptory treatment is rarely appropriate. See Hobson v. Wilson, 737 F.2d 1, 31 n. 88 (D.C.Cir.1984) (quoting 5 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1230 (1969 & Supp.1984)), cert. denied, 470 U.S. 1084, 105 S.Ct. 1843, 85 L.Ed.2d 142 (1985). In neither Branti nor Elrod did the Supreme Court attempt to deal with patronage practices on such a meager record. Nor did the Sixth Circuit attempt such a feat in Avery v. Jennings, 786 F.2d 233 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 477 U.S. 905, 106 S.Ct. 3276, 91 L.Ed.2d 566 (1986). Significantly, Avery was decided on a motion for summary judgment rather than a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss. Thus, the court had the benefit of greater detail as to how the patronage system actually operated:
The political affiliation of a job applicant is taken into account in the hiring process in a round-about sort of way. As jobs become available, the official for the most part fills the vacancies informally on an ad hoc basis with friends, relatives, or acquaintances, or with the friends or relatives of political allies. Since plaintiff was unconnected with this network, her application was not considered.
Id. at 234.4
As the majority points out, this case involves individual plaintiffs, not a class action. It also involves one particular political patronage system. However, we know very little, on the basis of the complaint alone, about the impact of this political patronage system on the first amendment rights of job applicants. We also know very little about the justification for this political patronage system. In my view, this case should be remanded to the district court. There, after adequate development of the record, the district court will be able to accomplish several tasks that are essential to a full and fair analysis of this case: 1) a thorough examination of the operation of this patronage system and the effect of that operation on the plaintiff; and 2) a thorough examination of the justifications for this particular system proffered by the defendants.
On the basis of the complaint, we do not even know the specific requirements imposed by this patronage system on the job applicant. We cannot determine, simply on the basis of the complaint, the degree to which the alleged patronage practices — or any combination of them — actually infringe on the first amendment rights of the plaintiff. It is not at all clear what a prospective employee must do to win the endorsement of the party representatives. There *1415is a significant, and perhaps crucial, difference between a prospective government employee’s having to be a registered Republican and having to do political work that involves endorsing publicly particular political positions that the applicant does not espouse or being required to pay the party in order to obtain favorable action on a job application.
Not only do we know very little about the actual operation of this particular patronage system and the resultant degree of infringement on the applicant’s first amendment rights, we also know very little about the countervailing need of the state government for such a patronage system. Although the majority discusses at length the benefits of a strong patronage system, its evaluation of those benefits is not based on any knowledge of the actual operation of this system. Rather, its evaluation appears to be based on two sources totally external to this litigation: 1) the majority’s own predilections; and 2) the majority’s agreement with the conclusions of the dissenting justices of the Supreme Court of the United States in Branti and Elrod. Neither is an appropriate basis for decision by judges of an intermediate appellate court. It is perfectly proper and, indeed, unavoidable, for judges to evaluate the facts of a case in terms of their own experience. However, to perform that task, one must first know the facts of the case; at this stage of the proceedings, we simply do not have that information. To evaluate, on the basis of the pleadings alone, the need for such an extensive patronage system is pure ipse dixit. Similarly, the majority cannot dismiss this complaint on the basis of the dissenting opinions in Elrod and Branti. I respectfully submit that, as an intermediate appellate court, we ought not rely on a point of view that higher authority has rejected unless we can demonstrate that the record before us justifies such a deviation. Here, of course, we have no record other than the complaint. In short, adjudication of the issue of patronage hiring requires a far more focused inquiry than this court can possibly undertake at this stage of the proceedings.
In my view, the patronage hiring claim ought to be remanded to the district court for further development of the record. That court can then render a considered judgment as to whether the rights of this plaintiff have been violated. On review, the judges of this court will be able to evaluate the judgment on the basis of the record — not on the basis of their own suppositions or predilections.

. The Delong test has met a similar fate at the hands of a panel of the First Circuit. See Agosto De Feliciano v. Aponte Roque, No. 86-1300 (1st Cir. Aug. 14, 1987) (1987 U.S. App. LEXIS 10833). That opinion has now been vacated and the case has been reheard en banc. The matter is presently sub judice.

. The analysis appropriate for infringements on freedom of speech also applies to associational rights. As the Supreme Court noted in Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593, 92 S.Ct. 2694, 33 L.Ed.2d 570 (1972):
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." Speiser v. Randall, 357 U.S. 513, 526 [78 S.Ct. 1332, 1342, 2 L.Ed.2d 460]. Such interference with constitutional rights is impermissible.
Id. at 597, 92 S.Ct. at 2697 (emphasis supplied).
Even if we assume, arguendo, that more of a burden is permissible when we are dealing with the implied right of freedom of association rather than the explicit right of free speech, the threatened loss in this case is clearly sufficiently burdensome to amount to a substantial burden on the plaintiffs’ first amendment rights. See Bart v. Telford, 677 F.2d 622, 625 (7th Cir.1982).

. The majority also appears to invoke a rule of necessity to justify its course. It fears that the adoption of any rule other than the Delong test will transform the federal courts into a "superci-vil service bureau" for all state and federal employees. Even if we assume that such concerns are relevant, we would be left with the fundamental reality that the protection of first amendment rights is indeed the proper work of the federal court. Our litigation process contains adequate steps to eliminate nonmeritorious cases.

. LaFalce v. Houston, 712 F.2d 292 (7th Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 464 U.S. 1044, 104 S.Ct. 712, 79 L.Ed.2d 175 (1984), was decided on the pleadings. LaFalce involved the claim of an unsuccessful bidder who challenged the city's use of political considerations in the awarding of public contracts. However, the court’s task in LaFalce under the first amendment encompassed a far more simple and focused inquiry of competing interests than is true in this case. In LaFalce, the actual operation of the bidding system and its effects on individual contractors were fairly straightforward and well defined. The court itself acknowledged that the situation of contractors, presented in that case, and that of public employees, as is presented here, are not analogous because the relative Strength of the competing interest in the two classes of plaintiffs differs significantly — so much so that the first amendment claim of the public contractor could be foreclosed on a motion to dismiss. Perhaps the court was justified in the public contracting context in treating the plaintiffs claim summarily. However, we should not extend such a summary treatment of first amendment rights to a case such as this one that squarely implicates the contours of Supreme Court precedent.