McAuliffe v. City of New Bedford (New Bedford, SCOTUS, 1892)
Case Overview
McAuliffe v. Mayor of New Bedford, 155 Mass. 216 (1892), is the origin of public-employee free-speech law. New Bedford fired police officer John McAuliffe for political activity that violated a department rule barring officers from soliciting money for political purposes. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., then on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, upheld the firing with a line that framed the law for decades: the officer 'may have a constitutional right to talk politics, but he has no constitutional right to be a policeman.'
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The Issue
• Does a municipal regulation restricting a police officer's political activities as a condition of employment violate his constitutional rights? • Does a public employee retain constitutional protections against conditions imposed on the privilege of public employment?
The Rules
A person has no constitutional right to public employment; the government may condition employment on the waiver of rights that could not be directly abridged, because holding office is a privilege and not a right.
Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble - raised by McAuliffe as protecting his political solicitation activities.
No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law - at issue as to whether dismissal from public employment implicated a protected liberty or property interest.
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