D’RBSMD P’AC

Like- wise, the stipend attached to the Salem Center appointment is akin to a pay increase, the denial of which does “not rise to the level of a constitutional deprivation.” Harrington v. [...] Whether courts consider the lack of any threatened adverse employment action to defeat element 2 of the test (without an allegation of an adverse employment DEFENDANTS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO DISMISS Page 3 Case 1:23-cv-00129-DAE Document 131 Filed 05/02/24 Page 7 of 13 action, defendants’ actions cannot have caused plaintiffs to suffer a cognizable injury), or element 3 (without a threaten. [...] To the contrary, the Court may consider all of the arguments raised in Defendants’ motion to dismiss Lowery’s amended complaint. [...] Finally, the self-chill claim was the subject of some discovery before the Court ruled on the original motion to dismiss and the subject of significant discovery since that ruling. [...] The motion to dismiss the amended complaint establishes that Lowery’s speech-code claim is nothing more than an improper attempt to make an end-run around Lowery’s lack of a cog- nizable retaliation claim, and Lowery’s response to the motion utterly fails to show that the Amended Complaint offers a cognizable speech-code claim.