Archive for June 2018
What Everyone Should Know About Free Speech, Hate Speech and Political Protests: My New Video
I spoke about free speech, hate speech and political protests at the Chicago Bar Association on March 22, 2018. This was a CLE presentation setting out the basics of free speech and its relation to hate speech and political protests.
Although the audience consisted of lawyers, I deliberately used as little legal jargon as possible, with the result that the video of my presentation is suitable for any non-lawyers who are interested in learning about this always-important topic.
I hope you find it of interest. If you have any comments or thoughts, please feel free to email me at snahmod@kentlaw.edu.
Here is the link to the video (not in HD, unfortunately):
I also invite you to follow me on Twitter: @NahmodLaw.
“A Lark and a Frolic” and the Public/Private Distinction: When Does a Nominal State Actor Lose That Status?
The Fourteenth Amendment (with its due process, equal protection and incorporated Bill of Rights components) has a constitutional state action requirement, meaning that the Fourteenth Amendment is not applicable to purely private conduct. Rather, it governs the conduct of state and local government officials and employees, as well as states and local governments themselves.
(On state action, see my post, Know Your Constitution (8): What is State Action? which can be found here: https://nahmodlaw.com/2015/02/19/know-your-constitution-8-what-is-state-action/)
In contrast, section 1983 has a statutory color of law requirement. So what is the connection between state action and color of law? The answer, as it turns out: where state action is present, so is color of law.
(On color of law and section 1983, see my post, State Action, Color of Law and Section 1983, which can be found here: https://nahmodlaw.com/2016/11/21/state-action-color-of-law-and-section-1983/)
However, there are situations where a state or local government official whose conduct would ordinarily be considered to be state action for Fourteenth Amendment purposes (and therefore color of law for section 1983 purposes), is not considered to be a state actor and therefore as not having acted under color of law. For instance, off-duty police officers who work as private security guards. I call this the converse of the typical state action question.
(I discuss and collect such cases in sec. 2:13 of my treatise, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Litigation: The Law of Section 1983 (4th ed. 2017)(West & Westlaw).
To explain: the typical state action question is whether the challenged conduct should be attributed to a state or local government for Fourteenth Amendment and section 1983 purposes. The converse of the typical state action question is whether the challenged conduct of a government official or employee, ordinarily state action and color of law, should not be attributed to a state or local government for Fourteenth Amendment and section 1983 purposes. The following Seventh Circuit decision is an example of the latter.
Luce v. Town of Campbell
In Luce v. Town of Campbell, 872 F.3d 512 (7th Cir. 2017), a police chief “messed” with Tea Party protestors who had criticized the police department for alleged mistreatment by posting the name and address of one of the protestors on websites catering to gay men and consumers of pornography. The police chief also posted comments on the local newspaper’s website falsely accusing the protestor of failing to pay taxes and his debts. The police chief tried to hide his role but he was discovered and thereafter resigned. Affirming the district court, the Seventh Circuit found that the police chief was not a state actor when he “messed” with the protestor: he did not use official information or privileged access. More important, acting like a vigilante was not part of a police officer’s job. Rather, it was “a lark and a frolic.” Accordingly, he could not be subject to section 1983 liability: because his conduct was not state action under the Fourteenth Amendment, he did not act under color of law for section 1983 purposes.
Comment
Both the state action and converse state action inquiries are very fact-specific. There are no real bright line rules: the inquiry focuses on whether the state or local government official exercised governmental power. To put this another way: the ultimate state action and color of law question is whether the state or local government is responsible for the challenged conduct.
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Who Decides the Final Policymaker Question in Section 1983 Litigation?
Those involved in section 1983 litigation know that there are three ways for a local government to be liable in damages for an official policy or custom. Monell v. Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. 658 (1978).
(1) The first way is where a local government’s official policy brings about the plaintiff’s constitutional deprivation. For example, a municipal ordinance is an official policy.
(2) The second way is where a local government has an established custom of acting in a certain way. For example, a local government that regularly uses race as an impermissible factor for making personnel decisions (even if not formalized as such) has a custom of racial discrimination. (A failure to train or supervise can sometimes constitute an actionable official policy or custom as well. City of Canton v. Harris, 489 U.S. 378 (1989)).
(3) The third way a local government’s official policy or custom can be shown is by attribution through a local government’s final policymaker (not merely an official or employee) who acts unconstitutionally. As the Court said in Monell, an official policy or custom can be “made by … lawmakers or by those whose edicts or acts may fairly be said to represent official policy” (emphasis added).
The question whether an official or employee is a local government’s final policymaker is, according to the Supreme Court, a question of state and local law. Jett v. Dallas Independent. School Dist., 491 U.S. 701 (1989). Since the final policymaker question is so important in section 1983 litigation, who decides the question?
The Eighth Circuit’s Decision in Soltesz v. Rushmore Plaza Civic Center
Following the lead of the Supreme Court in Jett, and consistent with the approach of other circuits, the Eighth Circuit has emphatically ruled that a district court is required to identify a final policymaker under state and local law. In Soltesz v. Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, 2017 WL 490407, * 4 (8th Cir. 2017), the plaintiff sued a city under section 1983 after his concession stand lease was terminated and his property seized in alleged violation of due process. He based his claim on the decision of a final policymaker. However, the district court failed to identify a final policymaker and allowed the case to proceed over the city’s objections, and the plaintiff prevailed before a jury. Vacating the jury’s verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, and relying on Supreme Court precedent, the Eighth Circuit declared: ‘[N]o legally sufficient evidentiary basis exists to impose liability on a municipality for the decisions of a final policymaker when the district court fails to identify that policymaker.” This was a legal issue for the district court that must be based on state and local law. The jury has no role in this determination.
Comments
There is little question that the Eighth Circuit got it right. It is only when a final policymaker has been identified by the district court using state and local law–a straightforward legal issue not within the competence of a jury–that the jury has a role in determining whether the decision of the final policymaker caused the plaintiff’s constitutional deprivation.
The final policymaker question, as with other local government liability issues, can be incredibly complicated. Still, it must be mastered because respondeat superior liability is not allowed under section 1983 as a matter of federal law. See generally Chapter 6, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION: THE LAW OF SECTION 1983 (4th ed. 2017)(West and Westlaw).
So it can be important for plaintiffs to find a way to get deep pocket defendants such as local governments to pay damages for their constitutional deprivations, particularly where individual defendants may be protected by absolute or qualified immunity.
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