Vol. 39 No. 16 PERSONAL TEXT MESSAGES FROM A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE REGARDING A RACIST IMAGE DID NOT CONSTITUTE A MATTER OF LEGITIMATE PUBLIC CONCERN AND THEREFORE WERE NOT PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT

In Adams v. Cnty. of Sacramento,[1] a First Amendment retaliation case brought by a former Chief of Police, the Ninth Circuit concluded that the plaintiff’s private text messages forwarding racist images (which she allegedly complained about) from an unknown sender to friends were not protected by the First Amendment.  In reaching its conclusion, the Court […]