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Carmen M. Ocasio-Hern_ndez, et al v. Luis Fortu_o-Burset, et al

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Before Torruella, Lipez, and Thompson, Circuit Judges.

LIPEZ, Circuit Judge. This case involves a claim of political discrimination stemming from the 2008 gubernatorial election in Puerto Rico. Fourteen maintenance and domestic workers, all members of Puerto Rico’s Popular Democratic Party (“PDP”), brought suit in federal district court alleging that they were unconstitutionally terminated from their public employment at the governor’s mansion, La Fortaleza, shortly after the election of Governor Luis Fortuno-Burset (“Fortuno”), President of Puerto Rico’s New Progressive Party (“NPP”). The complaint named four principal defendants, in both their individual and official capacities, as well as their spouses and conjugal partnerships: Governor Fortuno, the nominating authority at La Fortaleza; First Lady Luce Vela (“Vela”), the chairperson of a committee for the maintenance, restoration, and preservation of La Fortaleza; Chief of Staff Juan Carlos Blanco (“Blanco”); and Administrator Velmarie Berlingeri Mar_n (“Berlingeri”).*fn1 The district court, applying the federal notice pleading standard articulated by the Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937 (2009), dismissed the workers’ complaint for failing to state a plausible claim for relief.

After a careful review of the record and the teachings of Twombly and Iqbal, we conclude that the district court applied the notice pleading standard incorrectly. The allegations in the complaint do state a plausible claim of political discrimination in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. We vacate the dismissal of that claim.

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