Inc. v. City of Northlake O'Hare Truck Service

Political patronage has been practiced throughout the history of the United States. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams all openly made patronage appointments; Washington's explicit policy was that high-level appointments would be based on patronage, low-level appointments on performance. Andrew Jackson entrenched the practice, giving personal attention to all patronage appointments. In 1883, the Pendleton Act, which created a Civil Service Commission and merit system, put a damper on patronage to some degree, but until the 1950s the courts basically held that no one had a right to public employment. In the latter half of the twentieth century, the courts turned their attention to the First Amendment rights of public employees.