The constitutional impact of a public employer’s mistaken beliefs about an employee took center stage at the U.S. Supreme Court in January. In Heffernan v. City of Paterson, No. 14-1280, the Supreme Court will decide whether the First Amendment protects a public employee who was fired after his employer mistakenly believed he was adopting a disfavored political position in an upcoming election.
The appeal comes from our own U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Jeffrey Heffernan, a former police officer in Paterson, New Jersey, was demoted after he was seen holding a campaign sign for a challenger to the incumbent mayor of Paterson. In fact, Heffernan did not campaign for any candidate and was unable to vote in that election because he was not a resident of Paterson. As for the sign in question: He delivered that sign to his bedridden mother, who had asked him to pick up the sign for her yard.
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