Employment — public employment

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Employment — public employment — freedom of speech

Where a high school guidance counselor published a sexually explicit book, his termination did not violate the First Amendment.

“While we respectfully disagree with the district court’s assessment of the ‘public concern’ issue, we ultimately uphold the dismissal of Craig’s claim on an alternative basis. While full of objectionable content, Craig’s book deals with adult relationship dynamics, an issue with which a large segment of the public is concerned. However, we affirm the district court’s dismissal because the allegations of Craig’s complaint and the documents he relies upon to support his claim establish that the school district’s interest in ensuring effective delivery of counseling services outweighed Craig’s speech interest. The school district reasonably predicted that ‘It’s Her Fault’ would disrupt the learning environment at Craig’s school because some students, both female and male, who learned of the book’s hypersexualized content would be reluctant to seek out Craig’s advice. Craig has effectively pled himself out of court by asserting allegations and incorporating documents sufficient to establish that the school district’s interest in restricting his speech outweighed his interest in publishing his book. We therefore affirm the district court’s judgment.”

Affirmed.

13-1398 Craig v. Rich Township High School District

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Bucklo, J., Williams, J.