1st Amendment Violation

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Kelvin Lett v. City of Chicago, et al.

Case No.: 19-1463

Officials: MANION, KANNE, and BARRETT, Circuit Judges.

Focus: 1^st Amendment Violation

Kelvin Lett was an investigator in the Chicago municipal office that reviews allegations of police misconduct. In that role, Lett helped prepare an investigative report about a police shooting. Lett’s supervisor directed him to write in the report that police officers had planted a gun on the victim of the shooting, but Lett did not believe that the evidence supported that finding and refused. After he faced disciplinary consequences as a result, Lett sued his supervisors and the City of Chicago for retaliating against him in violation of the First Amendment. The district court dismissed all of Lett’s claims, and Lett now appeals, insisting that his refusal to alter the report constitutes protected citizen speech. But as the district court recognized, Davis v. City of Chicago, 889 F.3d 842 (7th Cir. 2018), squarely forecloses this argument. Because Lett spoke pursuant to his official duties and not as a private citizen when he refused to alter the report, the First Amendment does not apply.

Affirmed

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Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.