A Cook County assistant public defender has filed a federal lawsuit claiming her right to expression was violated when her supervisors barred her from displaying a photograph from her military service in Israel that showed her holding a rifle before the Israeli flag.
Assistant Public Defender Debra Gassman said she has displayed the photo in her office for more than 20 years. It was taken when she was volunteering with the Israeli Defense Forces, she states in the suit filed Wednesday.
After the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel, Gassman said she moved the photo from her personal office and displayed it in a communal area of the public defender’s offices in Skokie to “raise awareness of what had occurred in Israel,” according to the suit.
Soon afterward, she was told to remove the photo and received a letter from Public Defender Sharone Mitchell, who told Gassman displaying the photo violated an office policy.
“While there is no evidence that you acted with malice, the posting of a picture of an employee holding a firearm [is] inappropriate for the workplace,” Mitchell wrote. “Please remove any firearm-related picture from public view.
“In the future, we ask that you consider how others could interpret your actions as we all work to adhere to the Cook County Workplace Violence Policy,” he added.
Mitchell noted “tragic world events likely motivated this display” and said the office would not pursue any disciplinary action.
Gassman said she removed the photo from the public area but put it back in her private office, the filing states.
She claims a supervisor then came into her office and removed the photograph, and she says supervisors stated the photo was “akin to displaying a Nazi swastika.”
Gassman said she got the photo back but was told she was prohibited from displaying the photo where it could be seen from “any angle of the entryway to her office.”
She says that order violates her First Amendment right to expression.
The filing contends the office has not enforced a policy against displaying photos of guns in other instances. In her suit, Gassman cited a colleague including in an email an image from a popular film of a man pointing a gun.
In another example, she cited a tradition in the office of putting up posts congratulating colleagues for winning cases, including one that read “NOT GUILTY” and “UUW/Felon” and showed a photo of a handgun.
Gassman also took issue with an office policy that prohibits employees from speaking to the media regarding “policies, procedures or ‘general matters,’” which she claims is overly broad, vague and unconstitutional.
Gassman is seeking a court order allowing her to “prominently display the photo in her office,” as well as an award for damages and attorney fees.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the public defender’s office said the office responded to an employee complaint “by requesting the employee who posted the picture of herself holding a firearm remove that picture from the common area. The employee complied and was not disciplined. The Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender remains committed to creating a safe workplace for all of our staff.”
Gassman has demanded a jury trial. A hearing date was set for April 17.
