Rock v. Levinski’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 1 district ·

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) whether the speech was made pursuant to an employee’s official duties; (2) whether the speech was on a matter of public concern; (3) whether the government’s interests, as employer, in promoting the efficiency of the public service are sufficient to outweigh the plaintiffs free speech interests; (4) whether the protected speech was a motivating factor in the adverse employment action; and (5) whether the defendant would have reached the same employment decision in the absence of the protected conduct.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bird v. Regents of New Mexico State University

2. “rejected a First Amendment retaliation claim because the employee had 'frustrated the ability of [the government agency] to control and fashion its own message.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Klaassen v. Atkinson

3. “it is well established that the First Amendment does not require a government employer to tolerate such disloyalty from the upper echelons of the administration.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Klaassen v. Atkinson