Whether the Court should reconsider its qualified-immunity jurisprudence to accord with the official's burden of establishing immunity entitlement at common-law in 1871

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Petitioner is a retired NFL football player. After his retirement as a player, he became the head football coach at a public high school in Tennessee. In his first season as coach, the team had one of the most successful starts in school history. Around midseason, petitioner made two Facebook posts criticizing certain school district policies. A short time after petitioner’s social media posts, the district school director imposed a series of disciplinary measures upon him and eventually terminated petitioner as coach. Although the courts below held that petitioner’s Facebook posts were protected speech, a Sixth Circuit panel affirmed the dismissal of petitioner’s First Amendment retaliation claim on qualified immunity grounds. THE QUESTIONS PRESENTED ARE: 1. Whether the Court should reconsider its qualified immunity jurisprudence to accord with the official’s burden of establishing immunity entitlement at common law in 1871. 2. Whether placing a guidance letter in a public employee’s personnel file would chill further protected speech. ii LIST OF PROCEEDINGS United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit No. 18-6329 Gerald Sensabaugzh, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Kimber Halliburton, Individually and in Her Official Capacity as Director of Schools; Washington County Board of Education, Date: August 27, 2019 United States District Court, Eastern District of Tennessee No. 2:18-CV-11 Gerald v. Kimber Halliburton, Individually and in Her Official Capacity as Director of Schools; Washington County Board of Education, Defendants. Date: November 19, 2018