U.S. Appeals Court: FREE SPEECH TERMINATION.

Sowards v. Loudon County, 203 F.3d 426 (6th Cir. 2000). A former jailer brought a [sections] 1983 action against a county and sheriff alleging she was terminated for exercising her First Amendment rights of political and intimate association. The district court entered summary judgment in favor of the defendants and the jailer appealed. The appeals court reversed and remanded, finding that the jailer engaged in a protected right of political association when she supported her husband's campaign for the office of sheriff, and that the jailer met her initial burden of...