Sonoda

Plaintiff-appellant Jose A. Sonoda was terminated as Director of the Division of Customs Services in the Department of Finance of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”). He brought this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action against Froilan C. Tenorio, the former Governor of CNMI, and Anthony R. Cabrera, the Finance Secretary (“defendants”). The § 1983 suit alleges that the defendants terminated Sonoda in violation of his due process and First Amendment rights. The district court sua sponte granted summary judgment to the defendants based upon qualified immunity and Sonoda timely appeals. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . Because we hold that the district court erred in determining that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, we reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

The plaintiff-appellant, Jose A. Sonoda, was originally employed by the CNMI government in November of 1995 as an immigration inspector in the Department of Labor and Immigration. Shortly after assuming this position on December 2, 1995, Sonoda approached then-Governor Froilan *1038 Tenorio seeking a different (and higher paying) position. Governor Tenorio offered Sonoda the position of…