Johnny Moats, Sheriff, Polk County, Georgia, et al. v. Stephen Jarrard

This qualified immunity case concerns the proper First Amendment analysis for a claim by a volunteer applicant to a jail religious ministry program operated by a Georgia sheriff. The program employs volunteers to provide religious ministry to local jail inmates. Respondent was denied admission to the program. Seven circuits have applied the Court’s Pickering-Garcetti framework to First Amendment claims by volunteers who apply to or serve in government programs. See Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U. S. 410 (2006); Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, 391 U.S. 563 (1968). Here, however, the Eleventh Circuit held that the unique circumstances of this case rendered the Pickering-Garcetti framework inapplicable. Instead, the Eleventh Circuit applied First Amendment forum analysis, under which the court held (1) viewpoint discrimination is prohibited and (2) the unbridled discretion doctrine required jail policies to contain specific criteria to guide officials’ decisions. Accordingly, the questions presented are: 1. Whether the Court’s Pickering-Garcetti framework applies to a First Amendment claim by an applicant for volunteer religious work in a local jail’s program for inmates.