Jeanne Hedgepeth was a longtime, tenured social studies teacher at Palatine High School in Illinois.

In the summer of 2020, while off duty, Jeanne posted commentary on her personal Facebook page about the riots and unrest following the death of George Floyd.

And the school district fired Jeanne.

Why? Because some outsiders—many of whom had no connection whatsoever to the school—complained about her posts.

Imagine this happening to you: Your career destroyed just for sharing your personal opinions about major political events.

As a leader in free speech litigation, Judicial Watch jumped in to defend Ms. Hedgepeth’s First Amendment rights by filing a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the lower court’s ruling which deemed that Jeanne’s firing was legal despite clearly being based on unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

In response,Judicial Watch has filed a petitionto the United States Supreme Court requesting they step in to review this important case.

Please support our Supreme Court petition by making a generous gift to fund this fight today—along with all our litigation defending American freedoms.

At stake is whether teachers and other public employees can be outright fired for political speech made privately, off duty and far removed from the classroom.

The Seventh Circuit’s decision poses a serious threat to the free speech of millions nationwide, as it teaches that lawful, off-duty speech on matters of public concern may be punished any time enough people simply complain.

This is why Judicial Watch has petitioned to take this fight to the Supreme Court of the United States.

And it’s why I am asking you to make a tax-deductible first-time gift to Judicial Watch today to support our petition fighting for free speech—and fund the rest of our landmark litigative agenda.

Thank you for supporting Judicial Watch and standing up for free speech.

Sincerely,

Tom Fitton
President, Judicial Watch

P.S. This case is much bigger than one teacher. It goes to the heart of whether The First Amendment still protects 22 million public employees from being fired for daring to exercise their God-given First Amendment rights. Please make a first-time donation today to support our petition to The U.S. Supreme Court — and defend your rights in all our litigation.