Supreme Court Rejects Public Employee Petition Clause Retailiation Claim
New York Law Journal
By: Martin A. Schwartz
August 17, 2011

Excerpt:

Guarnieri won in the district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed. Third Circuit precedent, established in a case brought by Professor Leon Friedman on behalf of a Rutgers University professor, established that a public employee's lawsuit or other formal lawsuit is protected by the Petition Clause even it is a matter of private concern. The Third Circuit, however, stood alone in this view. All of the other circuits that considered the issue reached the opposite result, holding that a government employee's grievance is protected by the Petition Clause only if it is a matter of public concern. The Supreme Court in Guarnieri granted certiorari to resolve the conflict in the circuits.

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