Bivens v. Trent

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• holding that complaints the plaintiff made directly up the chain of command to his supervisors were not protected by the First Amendment
• concluding that plaintiff’s union grievance was personal because it “arose as a result of [his] own illness and detailed his own exposure to environmental lead at the firing range”
• describing how the content of plaintiff’s speech related only to police conditions at firing range, not matters directly affecting public
• “Although the fact that the speech was entirely internal does not itself render the speech unprotected, this fact does suggest that the grievance was personal in nature.” (internal citation omitted)
• union grievance over lead exposure didn’t address matter of public concern because it “made no reference to potential safety issues for the public”
• “Although the fact that the speech was entirely internal does not itself render the speech unprotected …, this fact does suggest that the grievance was personal in nature.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).