38. In a suit to reinstate her employment, which of the following claims provides the LEAST support for the woman?

Tip: This entire question is only referencing the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV. If you look closely at the correct answer, you will see that it does not name the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. While it does not name the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV explicitly, it is implied by referring to rights protected under Article IV. The text is not naming the Clause, it is describing what it protects. It is referring to a privilege or immunity without using the name of the Clause.

Under the U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1, the Interstate Privileges and Immunities Clause provides that «[t]he Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of citizens in the several states.» Thus, it prohibits discrimination by a state against non-residents.

The First Amendment provides: «Congress shall make no law. .. abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. .. .» Freedom of speech contains certain protections for public workers who are fired because of having engaged in speech that criticized superiors in the workplace.

The Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Section 1, Clause 2) invalidates any state action that is contrary to validly-enacted federal law. This Clause ensures that the U.S. Constitution, and federal laws made pursuant to it, constitute the supreme law of the land. It prohibits states from interfering with the federal government's exercise of legislative and constitutional powers.

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment generally prohibits states from taking property from an individual without notice and opportunity for a hearing. In the context of a government job, where state law provides that state employees can be fired only for good cause, a person has a legitimate claim of entitlement to, and thus a property interest in, his or her job.

B is correct. This is the least supportive basis for the woman's suit to reinstate her employment because it is entirely inapplicable to these facts. The Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV reaches only state actions that discriminate against citizens of other states. The woman is a citizen of the state that employed her. As such, she would have no claim of discrimination on this basis.

A is incorrect. This is not the least supportive basis because the state fired the woman as a result of her speech (notifying federal officials that the state was not following federal rules). There is, therefore, a viable argument that the woman's termination abridged her freedom of speech.

C is incorrect. It is reasonable to argue that by firing an employee for notifying federal officials that the state was not following enforceable federal rules, the state was taking action in violation of federal law and was thus prohibited by the Supremacy Clause.

D is incorrect. The woman had a property interest in her public employment based on the state law that ensured she could only be fired for «good cause,» which, under procedural due process, ensures that she be given notice and an opportunity for a hearing before being terminated from that job.