Marissa Darlingh v. Adria Maddaleni, et al.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin civil rights lawyers represented the Plaintiff who sued on a wrongful termination theory.



Marissa Darlingh was employed as a guidance counselor at an elementary school in the Milwaukee Public School District. In April 2022 she attended a rally at the state capitol in Madison featuring "radical feminist” critiques of the transgender-rights movement. There she delivered an impromptu, profanity-laden speech denouncing gender ideology and transgenderism and their impact on children. Among other things, she identified herself as a counselor in the Milwaukee Public Schools and vowed—in expletive-punctuated terms—that "not a single” student at her school "will ever, ever transition” on her watch.



After a video of Darlingh's speech appeared on YouTube, school officials opened an investigation and eventually fired

her for violating several employment policies, including rules against abusive and intimidating language and bully-

ing. The termination letter also explained that Darlingh's speech impaired her ability to perform her role as a school

counselor, damaged the district's reputation, and undermined its mission to provide an equitable and supportive learning environment for all students.



Darlingh sued three school officials and the school board alleging that she was unlawfully fired in retaliation for

exercising her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. (She also raised a due-process claim but it has no bearing on

this appeal.) A magistrate judge, presiding with the parties' consent, applied the Pickering balancing test, see Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, 391 U.S. 563 (1968), and concluded that the school district's interests as a public employer outweighed Darlingh's speech rights in these circumstances.

The judge denied her request for a preliminary injunction and dismissed the claim.



Affirmed