Politics
Miguel Sanchez, a Providence city councilor, was fired from his role as a staffer for his social media comments in the days after Oct. 7, 2023.
A federal judge ruled Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee and his top aides violated free speech rights when he fired then-staffer and Providence City Councilor Miguel Sanchez over his pro-Palestine comments in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Judge John J. McConnell Jr. wrote that Sanchez was speaking as a citizen and not in his role as a staffer when he made the comments. Further, the firing generated more publicity and disruption than Sanchez’s comments, according to McConnell’s decision in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island.
McConnell granted the summary judgjment in favor of Sanchez on Wednesday. A trial will now determine the damages and injunctive relief, court records show.
“Speech on public issues occupies the greatest of First Amendment protection, and the stronger the speech interest, the stronger the justification the employer must offer,” McConnell writes in the decision.
Sanchez, who was elected to the City Council in 2023, is expected to be the next council president, the Rhode Island Current reports.
“Mr. Sanchez is grateful for the district court’s wise, well-written and persuasive decisions, and looks forward to the upcoming trial on damages,” the councilor’s attorney Gene Schaerr wrote in a statement to Boston.com.
McKee’s office did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
Sanchez is up for reelection next Tuesday after he won the Democratic primary for Ward 6 by more than 56 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, McKee lost his reelection bid to primary challenger Helena Foulkes by more than 20 points.
The judge’s ruling
Sanchez filed the lawsuit against McKee, Chief of Staff Antonio Afonso, and Senior Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Almond in August 2024.
Sanchez argued he did not speak for the governor and was not a policymaker. The governor’s office, on the other hand, contended that Sanchez’s words and actions were a “major distraction” for the office.
At the time, Sanchez served both as a Providence city councilor and a “constituent services” staffer for McKee. The position is the office’s first point of contact with the public, handling the office’s calls and emails, according to the decision.
The governor’s office argued that Sanchez worked in a “communicator” role — a role without First Amendment protections. It also argued Sanchez’s posts could send “mixed messages” on the stance of McKee, who condemned the Oct. 7 attack and stood in solidarity with Israel.
While McConnell wrote that Sanchez did communicate with the public in the role, he only relayed positions already set by the governor, often by a script.
McConnell also wrote Sanchez’s account only identified him as a city councilor, and not as a staffer for the governor. There’s no evidence any constituent confused the messages, McConnell wrote. Rather, a newspaper article by The Providence Journal connected Sanchez to McKee.
In addressing whether Sanchez’s post caused disruptions to the governor’s office, McConnell wrote that “the termination itself produced dramatically more attention than the post did.”
The governor’s office received one media inquiry, three public emails, and two public telephone messages about Sanchez’s posts. Meanwhile, at least 17 reporters inquired into Sanchez’s firing, and over 100 emails and calls from the public were about the firing, according to the opinion.
“Defendants rely heavily on what can otherwise be characterized as a modest public and press reaction,” McConnell wrote.
Sanchez’s posts and termination
Sanchez began working for McKee in May 2021. The following year, Sanchez told Almond that he planned to run for local office — a decision with no opposition from the governor’s office, according to the decision.
“He advised his superiors of his intent to run for office, which would almost certainly require taking political positions one way or another,” McConnell wrote in the decision.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Sanchez made several posts on his X account calling for a ceasefire and condemning attacks on all civilians.
“We must demand the respect of all human rights, especially the Palestinian people who faced atrocities for decades and at the same time condemn all attacks on civilians,” he wrote in a post on Oct. 7, 2023.
On Oct. 22, 2023, Sanchez posted that he marched in a pro-Palestine rally in Providence and called for “an immediate ceasefire” and an “end to the occupation.”
The following day, a member of the governor’s staff told Sanchez to “keep a low profile,” but he did not tell Sanchez to take the post down, McConnell wrote in the opinion.
On Oct. 26, 2023, Almond and Afonso met with Sanchez, saying he had the right to say what he wants, but he doesn’t have the “constitutional right to work in the Governor’s office,” according to the opinion.
The day after that, Sanchez refused to take down the post, and the two told him to resign or be fired.
McConnell also noted that two other employees in the governor’s office had previously posted opinions online that contradicted the governor’s stance, such as supporting a different presidential candidate. However, neither employee was fired or told to take down their posts.
Prior to his firing, Sanchez was never disciplined, nor was his performance called into question, according to the decision.
“Governor McKee may have taken away my job, but he won’t pressure me into silence while a genocide is occurring in front of our eyes,” Sanchez wrote in a statement following the firing.
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