The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case involving two Louisiana deputies who were terminated for swapping wives and families.

According to news sources, Brandon Coker and Michael Golden, who worked in Bossier parish in Louisiana, fell in love with each other’s wife. Rather than divorce and remarry, the men proceeded to simply swap wives, homes and families. When their employer, Chief Deputy Sheriff Charles Owens, discovered the wife swap, he placed the deputies on administrative leave for violation of the Sheriff’s Code of Conduct barring “illegal, immoral or indecent conduct.” The deputies’ refusal to return to their homes until their divorces were final eventually gave rise to “voluntary” termination.

Coker and Golden sued for unlawful termination, claiming the Sheriff’s Code of Conduct violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression and "the right of the people peaceably to assemble."

Both a district and an appeals court backed the employer, and the U.S. Supreme Court let the ruling stand.

"Sexual decisions between consenting adults take on a different color when the adults are law enforcement officers," the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling.

—Source: news.abs-cbn.com