Porter Scott Granted Motion to Dismiss on behalf of County of Sacramento

Adams v. County of Sacramento (2025) 143 F.4th 1027, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed a grant of a motion to dismiss we obtained on behalf of the County of Sacramento.

We represent the County of Sacramento in a lawsuit filed by a former lieutenant with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s department. The plaintiff alleged she was forced to resign by the County of Sacramento because of private text messages pertaining to race she sent to a colleague several years earlier. Plaintiff sued the County alleging that her forced resignation constituted Free Speech Retaliation because she was effectively terminated for engaging in a speech that is a matter of public concern. We moved to dismiss the claim on the grounds that a public employee’s private, off-duty text messages about race are not protected under the First Amendment. More specifically, we argued that private, off-duty discussions about racism in society do not constitute a matter of public concern and therefore are not protected by the First Amendment.  The district court and the Ninth Circuit agreed. This case is significant because it emphasizes a limited interpretation of First Amendment protections for public employees’ private communications, and a contrary ruling would have made it far more difficult for public entities to discipline employees for off-duty conduct.