Port Authority Police Officers Lose Political Association Appeal

A group of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police officers failed with their First Amendment claims because they only alleged that they were denied promotion to sergeant for being “apolitical” rather than for not having the preferred political associations, the Third Circuit ruled Wednesday.

That meant the 68 officers really alleged that the roughly 145 officers promoted over them between 2011 and 2015 were chosen because they had the preferred personal connections, not based on politics, the court said. “First Amendment association concerns are therefore not implicated,” it said.

The First Circuit reached a similar conclusion in ...