A professor's pay raise of $666 was not the devilish misdeed of a law dean, a federal appeals court has found. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled on Tuesday that Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and former dean Craig Boise did not violate the First Amendment rights of the school's longtime professor Sheldon Gelman, who spearheaded a successful drive to unionize the faculty. In affirming a lower court, the three-judge panel also threw out claims pertaining to the firing of the professor's wife, Jean Lifter, who was an assistant dean at the school. The couple alleged that Boise had retaliated against them for Gelman's moves to unionize the law school faculty, in part with a “symbolic” raise of $666—a number often associated with the devil. The university and Boise countered that the amount of the raise, which was given to other faculty members as well, was merely a byproduct of Boise's formula in allocating limited funds to the faculty and that Lifter's termination was the result of a budget shortfall. The appellate court was unconvinced that Gelman's union organizing—which is protected under the First Amendment—was a “'substantial or motivating factor' behind their respective adverse employment actions,” according to the opinion. Moreover, the court ruled that Lifter lacked standing to raise a claim that the law school violated her husband's First Amendment rights. Steven Shafron, and attorney with Cleveland law firm Berkman, Gordon, Murray & DeVan who represented the plaintiffs did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday, nor did the law school. Gelman helped organize a 2012 drive to unionize the law school faculty, according to court documents. Boise and university leaders did not formally oppose unionization, although the law school dean made it clear that the effort was “causing friction” within the school, according to the opinion. The following spring, Gelman was allocated a $666 raise by Boise—a relatively low amount that he claimed was retaliation and a Satanic reference. Boise countered that faculty members were put into four groups based on their scholarship, teaching and service, and accordingly received raises of $5,000, $3,000, $666 and $0. The $666 figure was the result of dividing available funds between the number of eligible faculty, Boise claimed. The appellate court noted that several faculty members who were active in the union organizing effort received the larger raises, while some who were not involved also got $666 pay increases. The law professors' union filed an unfair labor practices charge against the university in 2013 with Ohio's State Employment Relations Board, but the board dismissed the claim. Meanwhile, the law school faced a significant budget shortfall in 2014 due to declining enrollment, and Boise chose to terminate Lifter, who was then the assistant dean for academic affairs. She was the only member of the faculty fired that year. The appeals court agreed with the defendants' argument that her firing was motivated by the budget shortfall, and not her husband's union activity. Gelman left the law school in 2015 with a buyout of about $100,000, according to court filings. The couple sued the university and Boise in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2015, but Judge Patricia Gaughan dismissed the case last year. Contact Karen Sloan at [email protected]. On Twitter: @KarenSloanNLJ