The First Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that flamboyant and controversial Maine Republican Governor Paul LePage had qualified immunity when he threatened a nonprofit charter school with losing a $1 million grant if it hired a political opponent as its new president. A divided panel of the Court has affirmed a trial court decision dismissing a claim by the Democratic Speaker of the House who claimed the action violated his Constitutional rights under Section 1983. Accepting the allegations of the complaint as true for purposes of the motion to dismiss, Speaker Mark Eves claimed that the Governor threatened the school’s board chair if it persisted in hiring Eves to fill a vacancy. He...