Bicanic v. McDermott’s Empirical Analysis
867 F.2d 391 · 1989
Citation profile
21 federal appellate · 1 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 32 later decisions — most recently August 2017 · most notably 142 Ill. 2d 495 - Fellhauer v. City of Geneva (1991), Lohorn v. Michal (1990)
21 federal appellate · 1 district · 3 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act))
Relies on Elrod v. Burns · Branti v. Finkel · Felder v. Casey · Nekolny v. Painter · Tomczak v. City of Chicago
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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“there can be no doubt that under Elrod and Branti, and this circuit's cases, such a position is one for which 'party affiliation is an appropriate requirement for the effective performance of the public office involved.' " Id. at 403. 31 Given the case law in this circuit, and the factual similarity between the instant case and the Herman case, we hold that plaintiff's job of building commissioner/city engineer was one for which political affiliation is an appropriate requirement. We therefore grant defendants' motion for summary judgment on the First Amendment claim, and deny plaintiff's cross-motion. II. Alleged Deprivation of Property Interest 32 Scales additionally claims that defendants deprived him of a property interest without due process of law. Scales points to Jeffersonville City Ordinance Sec. 35.16, enacted November 15, 1986 by the Common Council of Jeffersonville, which states, in relevant part, "(A) The ... discharge of regular employees shall be for cause.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“If the City of Hammond reorganized its parks department so that all of Bicanie’s duties were distributed elsewhere, then the City had no need of his services no matter what his politics. A political appointee does not acquire tenure as a civil servant when the tasks of the job are abolished or redistributed — for the abolition of a political job is itself a political deed, no more actionable than firing the holder of a job whose duties are unchanged____ It cannot be that if a mayor so distrusts an appointee that he first strips away the person’s duties and then, when the appointee does not get the message, pulls the rug out from under him, the Constitution treats the initial step (deprivation of responsibility) as interdicting the second (discharge).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Feeney v. Shipley“The political officials must be able to count on the support of those who prepare budgets, negotiate and sign contracts, and generally run the show at a substantial component of the government. The [Park and Recreation] Commission had the last formal word on some of these subjects, but members of the President’s cabinet may be political appointees notwithstanding their formally subordinate status on the organization chart of the executive branch; so too with responsible subordinates in the City of Hammond.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Green v. Henley
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.