I shocked the sheriff: 9th Circuit rules private texts aren’t protected speech

One of the nightmares of HR professionals is to be told about a workplace problem “privately as a friend.” Whether something is an informal chat between friends or public notice of a problem is very hard to determine. That was essentially the question in deciding whether a Rancho Cordova sheriff was engaging in protected speech about a public topic or an informal chat among friends.

New Year’s celebration takes a turn

Kate Adams began working for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office in 1994. She became Chief of Police for the City of Rancho Cordova in March 2020.

On New Year’s Eve in 2013, Adams was having “a friendly, casual text message conversation” with her coworker and then-friend Dan Morrissey. The two were exchanging New Year’s wishes. At some point in the exchange, Adams sent Morrissey a text message stating, “Some rude racist just sent this!!” One of the images depicted a white man spraying a young black child with a hose and contained a superimposed offensive racial epithet. The other message included an image of a comedian, with superimposed text containing an offensive racial slur. Morrissey responded, “That’s not right.” On the same evening, Adams also texted the same images to another coworker and then-friend, LeeAnnDra Marchese.