Johnson v. City of Shelby, Mississippi

Johnson (plaintiff), fired as a City of Shelby, Mississippi (defendant) police officer by the city's board of aldermen, sued claiming a violation of his Fourteenth Amendment due process rights after being terminated for publicly disclosing an alderman's crimes, but his complaint never expressly cited 42 U.S.C. section 1983 as the vehicle for his federal claim. The city moved to dismiss based on that omission, the district court granted the motion, and the Fifth Circuit affirmed, prompting the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari.