Richard D. Sowers, Raleigh E. Myers, and Richard Robertson v. City of Fort Wayne, Indiana

On September 19, 1980, plaintiffs-appel-lees, fire fighters employed by the Fort Wayne Fire Department, filed this § 1983 action against the City of Fort Wayne, its mayor, its fire chief, its board of public safety, and several board members, challenging, as violative of their First Amendment right of freedom of association and their Fourteenth Amendment right not to be deprived of property without due process of law, their demotions from the rank of officers to the rank of privates. Count I of the complaint alleged that plaintiffs were demoted because they were not members of the Democratic…