Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit July 20, 1999, Docket No. 98-9022 (Adler v. Pataki)

JON 0. NEWMAN, Circuit Judge.

This appeal concerns the authority of a state to discharge an employee in unusual circumstances. The employee, alleged to have held a policy-making position, making him vulnerable to discharge because of political affiliation, contends that he was unlawfully fired, not because of his political affiliation, but in retaliation for a lawsuit filed against state