Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)

Citation: Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)
Parent Document: Gonzalez v. Lee County Housing Authority, 161 F.3d 1290 (1998)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 1998-12-02
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/73387/gonzalez-v-lee-county-housing-authority/ ↗

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It is unclear whether this portion of the letter can “be fairly characterized as constituting speech on a matter of public concern----” Connick, 461 U.S. at 146, 103 S.Ct. at 1690. On the one hand, a public official’s authorization of discriminatory rental practices unquestionably is an important matter of general public interest. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 3601 (“It is the policy of the United States to provide ... for fair housing throughout the United States.”); cf. Con-nick, 461 U.S. at 149, 103 S.Ct. at 1691 (holding that the pressuring of public employees to work in political campaigns is a matter of public concern). Moreover, a public employee’s statement may satisfy the public concern requirement even where, as here, the employee speaks within the workplace, after an adverse employment decision, about a specific matter that had not drawn significant public attention prior to her speech. See Connick, 461 U.S. at 149, 103 S.Ct. at 1691.

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