The US Supreme Court on Monday let stand a Louisiana
sheriff’s firing of two of his deputies for swapping wives and families,
refusing to review lower court rulings in a case that raised eyebrows.
Brandon Coker and Michael Golden, who worked in the
southern state’s Bossier parish, discovered the loves of their lives — in the
arms of each other’s wife.
After consultation with their families, the men proceeded
to simply swap homes — and wives: Golden moved in with Coker’s wife, and Coker
made his life with Golden’s wife. Neither couple divorced.
In late October 2014, their employer, Chief Deputy Sheriff
Charles Owens, was shocked to discover the divorce-less swap.
Owens told Coker and Golden that their actions violated
the Sheriff’s Code of Conduct barring “illegal, immoral or indecent conduct”
and placed them on administrative leave.
If they refused to return to their own homes until their
divorces were final, they would be “considered to have terminated employment
voluntarily,” according to court documents.
Coker and Golden paid heed to their hearts, ignored their
boss — and soon filed a lawsuit for unlawful termination.
The men claimed that the Sheriff’s Code of Conduct
violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom
of expression and “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”
But both a district and an appeals court backed their
employer.
“Sexual decisions between consenting adults take on a
different colour when the adults are law enforcement officers,” the New
Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling in May.
The law “does not create ‘rights’ based on relationships
that mock marriage,” the ruling read.
By declining to examine the case on Monday, the US Supreme
Court effectively upholds that ruling.
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