Cite as: 518 U. S. 712 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
a policeman," McAuliffe v. Mayor of New Bedford, 155 Mass. 216, 220, 29 N. E. 517 (1892). A State may not condition public employment on an employee's exercise of his or her First Amendment rights. See, e. g., Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of N. Y., 385 U. S. 589 (1967); Pickering v. Board of Ed. of Township High School Dist. 205, Will Cty., 391 U. S. 563 (1968); Perry v. Sindermann, 408 U. S. 593 (1972). See also Board of Comm'rs, Wabaunsee Cty. v. Umbehr, ante, at 674-675 (collecting cases). As we have said: "[I]f the government could deny a benefit to a person because of his constitutionally protected speech or associations, his exercise of those freedoms would in effect be penalized and inhibited. This would allow the government to 'produce a result which [it] could not command directly.' Such interference with constitutional rights is impermissible." Perry v. Sindermann, supra, at 597, quoting Speiser v. Randall, 357 U. S. 513, 526 (1958). Absent some reasonably appropriate requirement, government may not make public employment subject to the express condition of political beliefs or prescribed expression.
In Elrod v. Burns, 427 U. S. 347 (1976), we considered whether to apply the principles of the unconstitutional conditions cases to public employees dismissed on account of their political association. In keeping with local tradition, a newly elected county sheriff had discharged non-civil-service employees because they were not members of his political party. It was by no means self-evident whether our First Amendment precedents applied, for as Justice Powell explained in dissent, id., at 377-387, the patronage practices at issue had been sanctioned by history and had been thought by some to contribute to the effective operation of political parties. See also Branti v. Finkel, 445 U. S., at 522, n. 1, 527-532 (Powell, J., dissenting); Rutan v. Republican Party of Ill., 497 U. S. 62, 104-109 (1990) (Scalia, J., dissenting). If indeed those patronage practices fortify the party system, they may serve important First Amendment interests, since
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