Supreme Court Will Not Review Whether Prison Guard's Report Of Possible Security Breach Was Protected Speech
Denying certiorari, the United States Supreme Court
has let stand a Seventh Circuit decision that a prison guard who reported a
possible breach of prison security to the assistant prison superintendent as
part of her official responsibilities as a guard to keep the prison secure did
not engage in "citizen" speech and, thus, her comments were not protected from
retaliation under the First Amendment. That the guard's statements highlighted
potential misconduct by prison officers, who may have been smuggling contraband
into the prison, did not change the fact that she was speaking pursuant to her
official responsibilities, not as a citizen, the Court of Appeals reasoned.
Spiegla v. Hull