Case Citator › Foraker v. Chaffinch

Foraker v. Chaffinch

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Abrogated
Court
Third Circuit
Citation
501 F.3d 231
Decided
Confirmed treatments
1
Flagged citations read
32 of 32
Citing cases (total)
32
Treatment dates
2011
Abrogated
A reviewed court treats this case as abrogated by later authority. Foraker v. Chaffinch was abrogated on its Petition Clause rule. The Supreme Court held that a public employee's lawsuit or formal grievance must address a matter of public concern to support a First Amendment retaliation claim.
More on how this was screened

Foraker had held that a formal petition could be protected even when its subject was purely private. The confirmed treatment is listed below. All 32 flagged citations have been read. Later courts continue to apply Foraker's separate rule about speech made pursuant to official duties. Their parentheticals report the Supreme Court's abrogation; they do not independently change Foraker.

Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

32 later cases cite Foraker v. Chaffinch; 32 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Foraker v. Chaffinch?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Abrogated

  • The Supreme Court rejected Foraker's rule that a public employee's formal petition is protected even when it concerns only a private workplace dispute.

    Borough of Duryea v. Guarnieri · Supreme Court of the United States · filed

    The Court of Appeals concluded that ‘“a public employee who has petitioned the government through a formal mechanism such as the filing of a lawsuit or grievance is protected under the Petition Clause from retaliation for that activity, even if the petition concerns a matter of solely private concern.’” 364 Fed. Appx. 749, 753 (CA3 2010) (quoting Foraker v. Chaffinch, 501 F. 3d 231, 236 (CA3 2007)). ... If a public employee petitions as an employee on a matter of purely private concern, the employee's First Amendment interest must give way, as it does in speech cases.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

Does this case still carry your argument?

Describe your facts. Ezel reads Foraker v. Chaffinch and the cases that treated it, then tells you whether it still holds for your situation, with citations.

Opens in Ezel Pro.

  • Checks the law as it stands today, not only this page
  • Cites every source it relies on, so you can verify it
  • Chat, drafting and research in one workspace