Termination of A Public Official for Political Reasons Violates the First Amendment

Two park commissioners organized a coup to terminate the employment of the park district’s executive director, as retaliation. because she supported the election of a board member they opposed.  They also broke into her office and stole her personnel file.  The U.S. District Court acknowledged that breaking into the office and stealing the file were not official duties for the purpose of establishing that they were acting under color of state law; but nevertheless denied the motion to dismiss because the defendants’ other activities established that they engineered the plaintiff’s termination from public office for political reasons, which violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  McCaskill v Barbara Moore et al (U.S. Dist Ct for the N. dist of Ill., Oct. 2018)