⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Seventh Circuit considers the firing of an Illinois village police officer who says he was denied a chance to be heard. His department's policy manual referred to state-law dismissal protections, and he claims those protections gave him a legal right to keep his job unless fired for cause. He sued the police chief under federal due-process law. The district court accepted that he had plausibly alleged a protected job interest, but dismissed the damages claim because he had not shown that the chief violated clearly established law. That protection for government officials is called qualified immunity. The officer will argue that his job was protected and the constitutional hearing requirement was already clear. The defense will argue that those protections did not automatically apply to this small village, and the chief should remain shielded from damages. Listen for the difference between the established constitutional rule and whether this village actually adopted the state law that would give the officer a protected interest in his job.

Jacob Baxter v. Danny Cheadle (No. 26-1199) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, argued November 5, 2026.