User:Freespeecher

Demers v. Austin
Demers v. Austin (746 F.3d 402, 9th Cir., 2014) was a landmark decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, extending First Amendment protection to professors at public universities for on-the-job speech that deals with public issues related to teaching or scholarship. Demers carved out an exception to a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision (Garcetti v. Ceballos) that denied free speech protection to public employees. In doing so, Demers provided, for the first time in history, constitutional protection for faculty speech that criticizes polices and decisions of university administrations.

In 2009, Demers, a tenured faculty member in the Edward R. Murrow School (now College) of Communication at Washington State University, sued four administrators in a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action when they allegedly retaliated against him after he circulated a 7-Step Plan calling for a restructuring of the academic units and urging administrators to seek accreditation for the program. In 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington granted summary judgment for the Defendant administrators, holding the plan was written as part of Demers's official duties and, therefore, was unprotected under Garcetti. The district court also held that the plan did not address a matter of public concern.

Writing for a three-judge panel in Seattle, lead judge William A. Fletcher declared that Demers's Plan was protected speech and dealt with matters of public concern. The appeals court reinstated the lawsuit. Fletcher wrote: "[T]eaching and academic writing are at the core of the official duties of teachers and professors. Such teaching and writing are 'a special concern of the First Amendment.' ... We conclude that if applied to teaching and academic writing, Garcetti would directly conflict with the important First Amendment values previously articulated by the Supreme Court. ... (which) has repeatedly stressed the importance of protecting academic freedom under the First Amendment. ... "

The university declined to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and eventually paid Demers $120,000 to drop the lawsuit.

The Demers decision is precedent in only nine states in the West. There is no on-the-job free-speech protection for professors in the other 41 states, who can be punished for criticizing administrators' policies and decisions even when they deal with issues of teaching or scholarship.