Frank Watts, Plaintiff-Applicant v. Civil Service Board for Columbia, Defendant-Respondent

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the decision sustaining the indefinite suspension of a police officer who disregarded written departmental procedures and engaged in an insolent confrontation with the district attorney general. The court held that the discipline did not unlawfully burden the officer's speech because it was based on disruption of police-department operations and refusal to obey reasonable orders, not merely on his appearance before a grand jury. It also held that the record supported the Civil Service Board's findings and did not establish bias or prejudgment. Chief Justice Brock, dissenting, would have held that the order restricting the officer's grand-jury testimony was invalid and that the discharge should be reversed.