Connick v. Myers

Connick v. Myers, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court on April 20, 1983, ruled (5–4) that the district attorney’s office in New Orleans had not violated the First Amendment’s freedom of speech clause when it fired an assistant district attorney (ADA) for distributing a survey about morale to her coworkers.

The case centred on Sheila Myers, an ADA in New Orleans, who in 1980 was told that she was being transferred to another division in the office. She strongly objected to the move, and she subsequently compiled a morale survey and distributed it to other ADAs. The district attorney, Harry Connick, subsequently terminated her employment for refusing to accept the new assignment. Connick also informed Myers that distributing the survey was an act of insubordination. She then filed suit, claiming an infringement of her free-speech rights under the First Amendment. A federal district court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals entered judgments on behalf of Myers.

On November 8, 1982, the case was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. It began its review by citing Pickering v. Board of Education (1968), in which the court held that the question of free-speech issues involves finding “a balance between the interests of the [employee], as a citizen, in commenting upon matters of public concern and the interest of the State, as an employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.” In the Connick case, the court noted that the issues in the questionnaire were not matters of public concern, except for one question about being pressured to work on political campaigns. As such, the court found that when an employee’s speech does not relate to matters of political, social, or other public concerns, the judiciary must afford public officials wide latitude in managing their offices. The court held that the questionnaire was designed to give Myers ammunition to further challenge her supervisors and that it was simply an extension of her grievance about the transfer. The Supreme Court also indicated that the events surrounding the survey were significant. According to the court, “when employee speech concerning office policy arises from an employment dispute…additional weight must be given to the supervisor’s view that the employee has threatened the authority of the employer to run the office.” Furthermore, the court found that the survey disrupted close working relationships in the office.

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On the basis of those findings, the Supreme Court held that Myers’s freedom of speech rights had not been violated. The decision of the Fifth Circuit was reversed.