Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →

Gerald Sensabaugh v. Kimberly Halliburton, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 18-6329 · judgment August 27, 2019

Certiorari denied · February 24, 2020

Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

Petitioner is a retired NFL football player. After his retirement as a player, he became the head football coach at a public high school in Tennessee. In his first season as coach, the team had one of the most successful starts in school history. Around midseason, petitioner made two Facebook posts criticizing certain school district policies. A short time after petitioner’s social media posts, the district school director imposed a series of disciplinary measures upon him and eventually terminated petitioner as coach. Although the courts below held that petitioner’s Facebook posts were protected speech, a Sixth Circuit panel affirmed the dismissal of petitioner’s First Amendment retaliation claim on qualified immunity grounds. THE QUESTIONS PRESENTED ARE:

Whether the Court should reconsider its qualified immunity jurisprudence to accord with the official’s burden of establishing immunity entitlement at common law in 1871.
Whether placing a guidance letter in a public employee’s personnel file would chill further protected speech.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Alan L. Cates
Husch Blackwell LLP

For respondent
Kent Erickson Herrin
Herrin, Booze, et al.

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

Feb 24 2020
Petition DENIED.
Jan 29 2020
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/21/2020.
Dec 27 2019
Waiver of right of respondents Kimber Halliburton, in her official capacity and the Washington County Board of Education to respond filed.
Nov 25 2019
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due January 15, 2020)