Now and then a judicial opinion comes along so breathtakingly goofy that it commands something close to awe. In this regard, let us contemplate the sad case of Sheriff John Lumley of Hot Springs County, Wyo.
This is what has happened to the sheriff: By declining to reappoint deputy sheriff Daniel Rewers, who ran against him, Lumley violated the deputy's right to free speech. By abolishing the position of Diana Hogsett, who worked in the office, he trampled her civil rights.Rewers won damages of $84,950. Hogsett will take $32,600 to the bank. The case mocks justice and defies common sense.
The politics of Hot Springs County, Wyo., appear to be a little on the messy side. Deloyd Quarberg, who had been elected sheriff in 1982, won re-election in 1986. He appointed Rewers as a deputy sheriff and hired Lumley as an investigator. In 1990, Quarberg sought a third term but lost in the Republican primary. Rewers won the Democratic nomination, and Lumley decided to run as an independent.
Lumley won. During the campaign, Rewers criticized Lumley as unqualified for the office of sheriff. Diana Hogsett supported Rewers. Lumley, having won the job, decided he had no place for two people who had worked to defeat him. That makes sense to me.
But it did not make sense in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. A jury found in favor of the two offended employees. The case went up to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, where in August the verdict incredibly was upheld. A few weeks ago the Supreme Court declined to review the case, and that was that.
This juridical mischief began in 1976 in the high court's wacko decision in Elrod vs. Burns. In 1970, Democrat Richard J. Elrod succeeded a Republican as sheriff of Cook County, Ill. Following immemorial custom, Elrod fired all the Republicans, just as his predecessor had fired all Democrats. John Burns and other political appointees who earlier had benefited from the hoary practice filed suit. Their right to freedom of belief, freedom of speech and freedom of association had been violated!
By a 5-3 vote, the Supreme Court agreed. Justice William Brennan wrote a sweetly naive opinion for the majority. Justice Lewis Powell strongly dissented. He said Brennan's thinking reflected a "disturbing insensitivity to political re-alities." Powell saw no reason why a sheriff may not condition employment on political affiliation.
The machinery of partisan politics runs on the oil of patronage. If the faithful cannot be rewarded, not many faithful will stick around.