Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-10-2003

Abstract

MINER, Circuit Judge.

Defendant-appellant Symra D. Brandon, a Yonkers City Council member and Minority Leader ("Minority Leader Brandon"), and defendant-appellant City of Yonkers (collectively, "Defendants") appeal from a judgment for money damages entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Conner, J.), following a jury trial, in favor of plaintiff-appellee Martin Camacho. The jury found by special verdict that Defendants violated the First Amendment by terminating Camacho's employment in retaliation for the vote cast by another City Council member, Fernando Fuentes, against a capital budget initiative supported by Minority Leader Brandon and her political allies.

In this case, we are asked to decide whether Camacho, an employee of the City Council and a legislative aide to City Council member Fuentes, may maintain a federal civil rights action brought pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Defendants for firing him in retaliation for a vote by Fuentes. The vote was against a legislative proposal sponsored by a majority coalition of the City Council that was formed for the purpose of supporting the Mayor's legislative initiatives. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that such an action cannot lie, given both (1) Fuentes' status as a policymaker, and (2) the termination of Camacho on the basis of Fuentes' vote as well as Fuentes' decision to affiliate himself with the "Minority Coalition" of the City Council instead of with the "Majority Coalition" of the City Council.

For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand to the District Court with instructions to enter judgment for Defendants.

Comments

317 F.3d 153 (2003)

Martin CAMACHO, Plaintiff-Appellee,

v.

Symra D. BRANDON and City of Yonkers, New York, Defendants-Appellants, Gordon Burrows, Individually and John Spencer, Individually, Defendants.

Docket No. 01-9117.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: June 10, 2002.

Decided: January 10, 2003.

New York Law School location: File #3063, Box #144

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