Judicial Watch Asks Supreme Court to Take Up Case of Teacher Fired for Off-Duty Political Speech

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court of the United States to review a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit that permits public school officials to fire a tenured teacher for political speech made privately, off duty, and far removed from the classroom.

The case arises from the termination of Jeanne Hedgepeth, a longtime social studies teacher at Palatine High School in Illinois, who was fired after posting commentary on her private Facebook page during summer vacation in 2020, addressing riots and civil unrest following the death of George Floyd. School administrators cited concerns about  “disruption” after receiving complaints—largely from members of the public with no direct connection to the school. Hedgepeth praised Thomas Sowell and other black conservative leaders in one of the posts that got her fired.

Judicial Watch’s 2021 lawsuit for Hedgepeth asks for damages from the school district, Township High School District 211, and district board members and officials who participated directly in the firing of Hedgepeth (Hedgepeth v. Britton et al. (No. 1:21-cv-03890)).

Judicial Watch’s cert petition challenges the Seventh Circuit’s decision, which held that the school district’s interest in “avoiding disruption” — specifically, emails and phone calls from members of the public (most of whom had no direct connection to the school) “expressing concern or outrage” about Hedgepeth’s summer vacation posts — “outweighs her right to speak.”

Under long-standing Supreme Court precedent, beginning with Pickering v. Board of Education, courts must balance a public employee’s right to speak on matters of public concern against the government employer’s interest in maintaining the effective operation of the workplace. Judicial Watch argues that Pickering does not permit public employers to punish employees based on disagreement with their political views:

The viewpoint discrimination in this case is unmistakable. The district fired Hedgepeth because members of the community objected to the political views she expressed in core First Amendment speech on her private Facebook page while on summer vacation. Rather than condemn that blatant censorship, the court below sanctioned it—holding that vague and unsupported claims of ‘disruption’ empower public school officials to silence disfavored viewpoints.

The petition further warns that the Seventh Circuit’s decision poses a serious threat to free speech nationwide:

If allowed to stand, the decision threatens to chill the political speech of millions of public employees nationwide. It teaches that lawful, off-duty speech on matters of public concern may be punished whenever enough people complain. That rule cannot be squared with Pickering, with this Court’s precedents, or with the First Amendment itself.

Judicial Watch argues that the Seventh Circuit misapplied Pickering by transforming a narrow balancing test into a broad license for censorship—allowing government employers to discipline employees not for workplace misconduct, but for expressing controversial political opinions that provoke opposition.

“This case goes to the heart of whether the First Amendment still protects 22 million public employees from being fired for daring to exercise their God-given First Amendment right to express views outside the workplace,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “No teacher should lose her career because outsiders object to political views she expressed privately and lawfully.”

Judicial Watch is being assisted in the case by former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, who has argued over 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In November 2021, Judicial Watch filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Kari MacRae, a Massachusetts high school teacher who was fired in retaliation for posts on social media objecting to the inclusion of critical race theory in schools (MacRae vs. Matthew Mattos and Matthew A. Ferron (No. 1:21-cv-11917).

In June 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Judicial Watch’s petition that challenged a lower court decision against MacRae. Judicial Watch argued the Supreme Court should take up the case as the lower courts misapplied the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent. (Justice Thomas authored a statement respecting the denial suggesting the Supreme Court give serious consideration to addressing the issue of how to better protect the free speech right for government employees.)

In February 2021, Judicial Watch filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of David Flynn, who was removed from his position as the Deadham High School head football coach after raising concerns about biased coursework on politics, race, gender equality, and diversity being included in his daughter’s seventh-grade history class curriculum (Flynn v. Forrest et al. (No. 21-cv-10256)). The case ultimately settled, with the Dedham Public Schools Superintendent acknowledging in a letter “the important and valid issues” raised by Flynn and specific changes in school policies because of Flynn’s complaint.

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