934
Opinion of the Court
Cf. Mallen, 486 U. S., at 240. But here that has already been assured by the arrest and the filing of charges.
In Mallen, we concluded that an "ex parte finding of probable cause" such as a grand jury indictment provides adequate assurance that the suspension is not unjustified. Id., at 240- 241. The same is true when an employee is arrested and then formally charged with a felony. First, as with an indictment, the arrest and formal charges imposed upon respondent "by an independent body demonstrat[e] that the suspension is not arbitrary." Id., at 244. Second, like an indictment, the imposition of felony charges "itself is an objective fact that will in most cases raise serious public concern." Id., at 244-245. It is true, as respondent argues, that there is more reason to believe an employee has committed a felony when he is indicted rather than merely arrested and formally charged; but for present purposes arrest and charge give reason enough. They serve to assure that the state employer's decision to suspend the employee is not "baseless or unwarranted," id., at 240, in that an independent third party has determined that there is probable cause to believe the employee committed a serious crime.
Respondent further contends that since (as we have agreed to assume) Levanowitz had discretion not to suspend despite the arrest and filing of charges, he had to be given an opportunity to persuade Levanowitz of his innocence before the decision was made. We disagree. In Mallen, despite the fact that the FDIC had discretion whether to suspend an indicted bank employee, see 64 Stat. 879, as amended, 12 U. S. C. § 1818(g)(1); Mallen, supra, at 234-235, and n. 5, we nevertheless did not believe that a presuspension hearing was necessary to protect the private interest. Unlike in the case of a termination, where we have recognized that "the only meaningful opportunity to invoke the discretion of the decisionmaker is likely to be before the termination takes effect," Loudermill, supra, at 543, in the case of a suspension there will be ample opportunity to invoke
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