City of Atlanta to Pay $1.2 Million to Former Fire Chief After Violating His First Amendment Freedom

[SirLinksALot]

SOURCE: CBN NEWS

URL: http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/2018/october/atlanta-to-pay-1-2-million-to-former-fire-chief-after-violating-his-first-amendment-freedoms

by Steve Warren


The City of Atlanta, Georgia has agreed to pay former fire chief Kelvin Cochran, $1.2 million after a Federal District Court ruled in December 2017 that the city's policies which led to Cochran's termination were unconstitutional.

*****

n 2015 . . . the City of Atlanta fired him because he wrote a men's devotional book in his spare time – a book that briefly mentions his views on a biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality.

As CBN News reported, the city did not approve of Chief Cochran's book. After a 30-day suspension without pay, in order to complete "sensitivity training," and an investigation into his conduct (which showed he had never discriminated against anyone in the fire department), his career came to an end in Atlanta.

This led Cochran to embark on a three-year legal battle that he says was never just about him.

"The government can't force its employees to get its permission before they engage in free speech. It also can't fire them for exercising that First Amendment freedom, causing them to lose both their freedom and their livelihoods," said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot in a press release. "We are very pleased that the city is compensating Chief Cochran as it should, and we hope this will serve as a deterrent to any government that would trample upon the constitutionally protected freedoms of its public servants."

(Excerpt) Read more at above link ...