Content, Form, and Context - The Eighth Circuit Misapplies the Connick Test in Examining the First Amendment Rights of a Public Employee in Buazard v. Meridith
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Authors
Coppola, Tony
Issue Date
2000
Volume
33
Issue
2
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Prior to Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, public employees did not have a cause of action when their First Amendment rights were violated during the course of their employment. In Pickering, the United States Supreme Court issued one of its first opinions on First Amendment rights for public employees. The Supreme Court ruled that in order for a public employee's speech to be protected, courts need to balance the interest of the employee in commenting on "matters of public concern" with the interest of the government "in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees." Fifteen years later, the Supreme Court provided further guidance in Connick v. Myers when it held that in determining whether a public employee's speech constitutes a matter of public concern, a court must examine the "content, form, and context" of the public employee's statement. Recently, in Buazard v. Meridith, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit dealt with a public employee's speech regarding potential municipal corruption. The Eighth Circuit held that Charles Buazard's speech did "not address a matter of public concern." Buazard was a police officer who, upon the request of a superior, submitted a report regarding an incident of police officer misconduct. Later, despite the request of his superiors, Buazard refused to alter the report as he believed the report to be truthful and he believed that his superiors were attempting to avoid a civil suit. The Eighth Circuit ruled that Buazard's expression did "not address a matter of public concern" and reasoned that since Buazard wrote the report within "his role as a police officer," he could not have been speaking as a concerned citizen...
Description
Citation
33 Creighton L. Rev. 417 (1999-2000)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law