United States Fourth Circuit

Plaintiff has raised a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she was demoted in retaliation for her protected speech in opposition to race discrimination against school children. Because the school superintendent should have known that retaliation taken in response to such speech violates the First Amendment, he is not entitled to qualified immunity with regard to that claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/22/2004
• Published 01/22/2004

Judges

• Before WILKINSON, MICHAEL, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Robert Mauldin Elliot, Fredrick Wellington Evans, Elliot, Pishko & Morgan, PA, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for Appellant.   Max Daniel McGinn, Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:  Natalie Kay Sanders, Brooks, Pierce, Mclendon, Humphrey & Leonard, L.L.P., Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellees.