Diane Scott Haddock v. Tarrant County, Texas, et al.

Where public employees allege violations of First Amendment rights by their government employers, this Court has established the Pickering/Connick balancing test for free speech cases, extended Pickering/ Connick to freedom of petition cases, and established the Elrod/Branti balancing test for political party affiliation cases. Although this Court has recognized constitutional freedoms of intimate and expressive association, the Court has yet to examine how far government employers may infringe on either, or articulate an appropriate strict scrutiny balancing test. The questions presented are: I. If multiple and distinct First or Fourteenth Amendment rights are involved— either collectively or as alternative factual theories—is each right analyzed separately under its own prescribed strict scrutiny balancing test, or are the rights conflated and evaluated with a single balancing test? If the rights are conflated, which test applies, what is the balancing test for intimate association, and how does it fit? II. Where Elrod/Branti applies, are judicial employees such as associate judges policymakers or confidential employees as a matter of law, or are there factual scenarios in which they may not be?