Tokashiki

MEMORANDUM *

Kauai Police Chief George Freitas (“Freitas”) appeals the district court’s de *393 nial of his summary judgment motion based on qualified immunity.

Jacquelyn Tokashiki (“Tokashiki”), while employed simultaneously as Freitas’s secretary and as a secretary to the Kauai Police Commission (“Commission”), made statements to Freitas about his girlfriend, wrote a letter to the Commission regarding the impact of Freitas’s refusal to obey the Commission’s demands while on leave, and wrote a letter to the editor of Honolulu Magazine defending the Kauai Police Department (“KPD”). Tokashiki filed a complaint alleging that Freitas transferred and fired her because of these expressions thereby violating her right to free speech, as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Freitas moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity, and the district court denied his motion.

We review de novo a district court’s denial of summary judgment based upon a claim of qualified immunity. Moran v. Washington, 147 F.3d 839, 844 (9th Cir. 1998). A district court’s denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity is subject to immediate appeal. Id. at 843 (citing Mitchell v.…