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Try CasePortal for FreeJ. Seeger denies the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s motion to dismiss a former correction officer’s First Amendment and retaliatory termination claims. The former CO claims the office fired him because its leadership did not appreciate his wearing a “Sons of Anarchy” TV show patch to court, along with his badge, while attending the trial of the men who fatally shot his close friend, another Cook County sheriff. The office also did not appreciate that he got into a conflict with the State’s Attorney’s Office over a potential plea deal for the men, or that he publicly accused the actual Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart, of committing domestic abuse. The sheriff’s office claims the CO violated its rules of conduct for employees, but the former CO claims the termination was retaliatory and violated his First Amendment rights. The court finds that factual disputes, and the sheriff office’s lack of sufficient argument against the former CO’s claims, make dismissal inappropriate.