The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-2 decision that a police officer who alleges he was demoted over his supervisor’s mistaken belief that he supported a mayoral challenger, can sue for the alleged First Amendment violation. Officer Heffernan picked up a political sign for his bedridden mother, then went to the headquarters of the station where other officers saw him with this sign. Word spread of him at the headquarters with this sign and officer Heffernan was demoted the next day.
When the officer went to court a federal appeals court ruled that Heffernan did not engage in any First Amendment conduct, so the demotion did not deprive him of a constitutionally protected right. The Supreme Court disagreed. Thee courts released this statement "When an employer demotes an employee out of a desire to prevent the employee from engaging in political activity that the First Amendment protects, the employee is entitled to challenge that unlawful action under the First Amendment and 42 U.S.C. §1983, even if, as here, the employer makes a factual mistake about the employee’s behavior" The case is The case is Heffernan v. City of Paterson and is currently still currently going on.
http://www.legalreader.com/u-s-supreme-court-ruled-officer-can-sue-for-first-amendment-violation/
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