Rickey Coleman v. Earl Dunlap

EASTERBROOK, Chief Judge.

Rickey Coleman was fired from the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in 2007. Coleman was told that his position had been eliminated because of budget cuts; he contends that his politics were the real cause for his discharge and a later decision not to rehire him. Most adverse actions based on a public employee’s speech violate the first amendment, and no one contends that Coleman’s job is in the category for which politics is a legitimate consideration. See Elrod v. Burns, 427 U.S. 347, 96 S.Ct. 2673, 49 L.Ed.2d 547 (1976); Branti v. Finkel, 445 U.S.…