directing district court to give a Mt. Healthy instruction in a case in which the *929 defendants considered plaintiffs speech but denied that the speech was protected by the Constitution
How later courts described this case
- directing district court to give a Mt. Healthy instruction in a case in which the *929 defendants considered plaintiffs speech but denied that the speech was protected by the Constitution
- directing district court to give a Mt. Healthy instruction in a case in which the defendants considered plaintiff's speech but denied that the speech was protected by the Constitution
- "[plaintiff's] statements might conceivably have come within the scope of public concern and the government's interest in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performed in this case may not have outweighed [plaintiff's] right to speak"
- “[T]his inquiry is a question of law, ... and ... the determination should generally be made at the outset of a case to avoid unnecessary litigation.”
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
KANNE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
No area of the law generates more agonizing decisions than those involving child *476 custody determinations. Combining these determinations with the strongly held feelings about free speech and the work of social service agencies, produces a volatile mixture. Such is the situation in this case.
In my view, the facts of this case do not produce quite the same pictures that have been developed. I accept the outcome of this difficult case and concur in the result.