considering a letter to the editor written by a former deputy sheriff in Virginia seeking to correct a statement in a local newspaper giving credit for solving a theft to a single officer, and seeking to take partial credit for himself
How later courts described this case
- considering a letter to the editor written by a former deputy sheriff in Virginia seeking to correct a statement in a local newspaper giving credit for solving a theft to a single officer, and seeking to take partial credit for himself
- upholding the dismissal of a deputy sheriff whose speech was likely to create a debate where none existed
- claim by former deputy sheriff that the sheriff fired him based on his speech on a topic of public concern
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
WIDENER, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the opinion of the court and in the result; yet I would add a word.
I think this case has nothing to do with freedom of expression in the Pickering sense. The record discloses beyond doubt that this was the private complaint of a disgruntled deputy, disappointed that his name was not put in the local newspaper, who plainly intended to bait and insult the sheriff, his employer, and to claim immunity by the device of a letter, ostensibly at least, directed to the editor of the paper. The deputy could only have expected to be fired, which was what happened.