In 2020, Jeanne Hedgepeth was fired for comments she made on her personal Facebook page. She had worked for the last 20 years as a public school teacher at Palatine High School. Hedgepeth took care to separate her social media presence from her job. She did not accept friend requests from current students, identify herself as a PHS employee, or make her posts public. Nevertheless, the school district fired her for her Facebook comments, claiming that they damaged the school district’s reputation and her effectiveness as a teacher.

In 2021, Hedgepeth filed suit in federal court, alleging the violation of her First Amendment rights. The Seventh Circuit, applying its version of the public employee speech doctrine from Pickering v. Board of Education, determined that the firing did not violate Hedgepeth’s constitutional rights. Hedgepeth petitioned the Supreme Court for review. Cato has filed an amicus brief supporting her position.

The Seventh Circuit’s decision exemplifies a trend of lower court decisions that have incorrectly applied the First Amendment to cases involving controversial speech. Public employees do not lose their constitutional rights when they accept a job. Yet lower courts grant only minimal protection to off-duty speech unrelated to employment. Properly applied, the First Amendment should protect public employee expression, especially when it’s made off duty and on a private social media page.

Furthermore, the Seventh Circuit’s decision impermissibly engages in viewpoint discrimination. The Pickering doctrine requires courts to examine the disruptive impact speech has on the classroom. But Hedgepeth’s speech was private and made during summer break. The First Amendment prohibits the government from selectively silencing disfavored views, and the Seventh Circuit erred in holding that the government can ignore that principle by invoking workplace disruption.

If allowed to stand, the Seventh Circuit’s decision will prevent teacher civic participation by denying them robust speech rights. This case gives the Supreme Court the opportunity to clarify the protection the First Amendment offers public employees.