O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake, 518 U.S. 712 (1996)

Free Speech Out Loud
O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake, 518 U.S. 712 (1996)

O'Hare Truck Service, Inc. v. City of Northlake is read by Casey Mattox, the vice president for legal and judicial strategy at Americans for Prosperity.

Legal Question: Whether government retaliation against a contractor or regular provider of services for the exercise of rights of political association or allegiance violates the First Amendment's free speech guarantee.

Action: The Court found that the independent contractor relationship between O'Hare and the City was sufficiently close to an employer-employee relationship to justify the recognition of a First Amendment right.

Mr. Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court, at 00:35

This opinion's citations have been edited down for ease of listening. For more information, visit our explanation.

For more on O'Hare, visit FIRE's First Amendment Library.

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Free Speech Out Loud is a project of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

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