No Issue Of First Amendment Protection When School Teacher Fired After Blasting “Zionist Jews.”

A substitute school teacher attended an “Occupy Los Angeles” rally and gave an interview to a  reporter.  Exercising her First Amendment rights, during the interview, she said she worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District, and stated:  “I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which are not run by the federal government, they need to be run out of this country.” When she attempted to find out her next teaching assignment on an automated system, she found out she was classified as inactive and that she should contact her supervisor. When she made contact, she was told her employment was terminated. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the teacher’s third amended complaint for deprivation of her rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, wrongful discharge and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Analyzing various issues, mainly procedural roadblocks to the case, the appellate court affirmed the dismissal without discussing the First Amendment. McAllister v. Los Angeles Unified School District  (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 2; June 3, 2013) 216 Cal.App.4th 1198.