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Opinion of the Court
jury. Because Morast was an at will employee, . . . he had no constitutionally protected interest in continued employment. Therefore, Morast's discharge did not constitute an actual injury under this statute." Id., at 930. Relying on its decision in Morast, the Court of Appeals affirmed. Judgt. order reported at 132 F. 3d 46 (1997).
The Eleventh Circuit's rule in Morast conflicts with the holdings of the First and Ninth Circuits. See Irizarry v. Quiros, 722 F. 2d 869, 871 (CA1 1983), and Portman v. County of Santa Clara, 995 F. 2d 898, 909-910 (CA9 1993). We therefore granted certiorari, 523 U. S. 1136 (1998), to decide whether petitioner was "injured in his property or person" when respondents induced his employer to terminate petitioner's at-will employment as part of a conspiracy prohibited by § 1985(2).
Section 1985(2), in relevant part, proscribes conspiracies to "deter, by force, intimidation, or threat, any party or witness in any court of the United States from attending such court, or from testifying to any matter pending therein, freely, fully, and truthfully, or to injure such party or witness in his person or property on account of his having so attended or testified." 1 The statute provides that if one
1 Section 1985(2) proscribes the following conspiracies: "If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire to deter, by force, intimidation, or threat, any party or witness in any court of the United States from attending such court, or from testifying to any matter pending therein, freely, fully, and truthfully, or to injure such party or witness in his person or property on account of his having so attended or testified, or to influence the verdict, presentment, or indictment of any grand or petit juror in any such court, or to injure such juror in his person or property on account of any verdict, presentment, or indictment lawfully assented to by him, or of his being or having been such juror; or if two or more persons conspire for the purpose of impeding, hindering, obstructing, or defeating, in any manner, the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent to deny to any citizen the equal protection of the laws, or to injure him or his property for lawfully enforcing, or attempting to enforce, the right of any person, or class of persons, to the equal protection of the laws."
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