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The case before the U.S. Supreme Court today could almost be the premise for some TV comedy - something starring Larry David, say. A public employee picked up a political sign at what turned out to be an awkward moment. And now that simple act has become a case with enormous implications. It's a case examining what a government can do when employees are associated with political activity. The court has already said you can't punish people for exercising their right of free speech or association. But what if they were not trying exercise their rights? Here's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.
NINA TOTENBERG, BYLINE: Jeffrey Heffernan was leading a good life in 2005. After 20 years on the Paterson, N.J., police force, he was promoted to detective and given a plum assignment in the police chief's office. Then one day, during the 2006 mayoral election campaign, his mother's yard sign supporting the mayor's opponent was stolen.
JEFFREY HEFFERNAN: So she called me up and said, listen, could you pick me up another sign?
TOTENBERG: Heffernan said he would, and while he was off duty, he went to the challenger's campaign office. There, the police officer was seen holding the sign and chatting with campaign workers.
HEFFERNAN: I got back home, and my phone rang. I was told that I was being demoted, and I was going to go on the walking squad for 12 hours a day.
TOTENBERG: Heffernan says he tried in vain to explain that he was just picking up the sign for his bedridden mother and that he was not active in the campaign - nor could he even vote in Patterson, since he didn't live there.
HEFFERNAN: They said to me that the mayor wants you out of the office, and the mayor calls the shots, and you're out.
TOTENBERG: The police chief later admitted he simply assumed that since Heffernan was seen holding the sign, he was supporting the candidate. For Heffernan, who eventually retired, the demotion was a huge blow. He sued, contending his First Amendment rights were violated, and a jury awarded him a total of $105,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. But because the trial judge later recused himself, that verdict was set aside. On a second go around, the newly assigned judge threw the case out, declaring that since Heffernan was not, in fact, campaigning for the mayor's opponent, he was not exercising his right of free speech and association. Therefore, no constitutional right had been violated. A federal appeals court agreed, and Heffernan appealed to the Supreme Court, where his case will be argued today. Representing him will be lawyer Mark Frost.
MARK FROST: You have the right to be involved or not be involved. That's part of your First Amendment right. And the fact that here, that they were mistaken as to what he was actually doing, doesn't matter.
TOTENBERG: In evaluating retaliation cases, he argues, courts should look at motive, and here the motive was to punish Heffernan's perceived speech. Motive is irrelevant, counters lawyer Tom Goldstein, representing the city of Paterson. He concedes that if Heffernan had, in fact, been supporting the mayor's opponent, his right to do so would have been constitutionally protected. But...
TOM GOLDSTEIN: ...The Constitution always requires that you actually be exercising the right, not that the government's motive was bad. If you aren't exercising your constitutional rights, we haven't violated your constitutional rights.
TOTENBERG: Goldstein contends that Heffernan might have had a legitimate lawsuit under state civil service or civil rights laws, but not under the Constitution. Both sides see the consequences of this case as potentially enormous. Heffernan's lawyer, Mark Frost, says that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the city, government employees at every level will constantly be looking over their shoulders for fear of a mistaken impression.
FROST: Citizens working for government are going to have to think twice before they do something or say something or before they associate with somebody.
TOTENBERG: The federal government - the largest public employer in the country - agrees and has filed a brief supporting Officer Heffernan's position. But lawyer Goldstein, representing the city, counters that a decision supporting Heffernan would lead to thousands of aggrieved public employees suing their bosses based on little more than a suspicion of a bad motive. That, he says, would throw a huge monkey wrench into the ability of supervisors to manage public employees. A decision in the case is expected by summer. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington.