The university transferred Teresa Wagner, a Republican, from her eight-year job as associate director of the law school’s writing center to a position in the main library’s unit that preserves special collections.
State lawyers last month petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to dismiss Wagner’s lawsuit, which claims she was passed over for law school faculty jobs because liberal professors objected to her prior work for groups that oppose abortion rights. If the court doesn’t intervene, a second trial is scheduled for March after a prior case ended in mistrial.
Her lawyer filed a motion last week contending that the reassignment is a demotion and illegal retaliation. The job consists of sorting through boxes of old books, booklets and pamphlets and doesn’t use her legal background or involve working with students, he noted.
But lawyers for the university filed court documents Wednesday to explain the reassignment, which didn’t affect Wagner’s pay or benefits.
U.S. District Judge James Gritzner on Thursday scheduled a Jan. 12 hearing on the dispute.
The reassignment came after Wagner accused Nancy Jones, the writing center’s director, of going through her backpack while Wagner was out of the office Nov. 5.
