Garcetti v. Ceballos
| Garcetti v. Ceballos | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 12, 2005 Reargued March 21, 2006 Decided May 30, 2006 | |
| Full case name | Gil Garcetti, Frank Sundstedt, Carol Najera, and County of Los Angeles v. Richard Ceballos |
| Docket no. | 04-473 |
| Citations | 547 U.S. 410 (more) 126 S. Ct. 1951; 164 L. Ed. 2d 689; 2006 U.S. LEXIS 4341; 74 U.S.L.W. 4257; 152 Lab. Cas. (CCH) ¶ 60,203; 87 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) ¶ 42,353; 24 I.E.R. Cas. (BNA) 737 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Summary judgment granted to defendants, Ceballos v. Garcetti, No. 00-cv-11106, 2002 WL 34098285 (C.D. Cal. January 30, 2002); reversed, 361 F.3d 1168 (9th Cir. 2004); cert. granted, 543 U.S. 1186 (2005). |
| Holding | |
| Statements made by public employees pursuant to their official duties are not protected by the First Amendment from employer discipline. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Alito |
| Dissent | Stevens |
| Dissent | Souter, joined by Stevens, Ginsburg |
| Dissent | Breyer |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), is a U.S. Supreme Court decision involving First Amendment free speech protections for government employees. The plaintiff in the case was a district attorney who claimed that he had been passed up for a promotion for criticizing the legitimacy of a warrant. The Court ruled, in a 5–4 decision, that because his statements were made pursuant to his position as a public employee, rather than as a private citizen, his speech had no First Amendment protection.