A federal judge today threw out a lawsuit accusing the Independent Police Review Authority of firing an investigator for refusing to clear an officer in the shooting of a suspected carjacker.

In a written opinion, U.S. District Judge Charles P. Kocoras did not rule on the merits of Lorenzo Davis’ contention that IPRA’s two top officials unsuccessfully pressured him to change his findings concerning at least six separate officer-involved shootings.

Kocoras also did not rule on the merits of Davis’ contention that IRPA Chief Administrator Scott Ando fired him after he would not change his finding of misconduct in the 2013 shooting death of 17-year-old Cedrick Chatman.

Instead, Kocoras held that Davis does not have a case for a violation of his constitutional rights.

Davis has no First Amendment claim because he was not speaking as a citizen when he wrote reports detailing his findings concerning accusations of police misconduct, Kocoras wrote.

Those reports, he wrote, quoting Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006), were drafted as part of Davis’ “daily professional activities.”

“The written documents that Davis created were exactly what he was employed to do in his capacity as an IRPA investigator,” Kocoras wrote, citing cases that included Sigsworth v. City of Aurora, Ill., 487 F.3d 506 (7th Cir. 2007). “Moreover, the written reports and findings, as well as Davis’ verbal refusals to alter his reports and findings, were intimately connected to his job as an IRPA investigator.”

Because those reports and findings were created in Davis’ capacity as a public employee, Kocoras wrote, “his speech cannot be said to involve matters of public concern.”

Kocoras conceded the reports and findings “may touch on a subject of potential interest to the public.”

The primary objective of the reports and findings, however, “is consistent with Davis’ obligations as an IRPA investigator,” Korocas wrote.

He also held Davis has no due process claim based on Ando’s public statement that Davis’ accusations are false.

The 14th Amendment protects the liberty to pursue a calling or occupation, Kocoras wrote, but not a specific job.

And Davis has not shown that Ando’s allegedly defamatory statement — Davis contends it amounts to calling him a liar — has prevented him from finding another job in law enforcement or public service, Kocoras wrote.

He dismissed the constitutional claims with prejudice.

He dismissed without prejudice one claim brought under the Illinois Whistleblower Act and another for common-law retaliatory discharge.

The lead attorney for Davis is Torreya L. Hamilton of Hamilton Law Office LLC.

“We are disappointed in the judge’s ruling, particularly his finding that the issues of police accountability and IPRA’s broker system for investigating police shootings are not matters of public concern,” Hamilton said in a statement.

She said Davis is considering appealing the dismissal of his constitutional claims to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And noting the ruling applies only to the federal courts’ jurisdiction, she said Davis will bring his state-law claims to state court.

“This is not the end of Mr. Davis’ fight to prove that his firing was illegal,” Hamilton said.

The lead attorney for the defendants — the city, Ando and IPRA First Deputy Chief Administrator Steven Mitchell — is David J. Seery of the corporation counsel’s office.

A Law Department spokesman could be reached for comment.

The case is Lorenzo Davis v. City of Chicago, et al., No. 15 C 7771.

Davis’ suit does not name the subjects of the report that purportedly led to his firing.

But in comments after he filed the action, Davis identified the person who was shot as Chatman.

Chatman was shot to death in January 2013 in a South Shore neighborhood.

Surveillance video shows Chatman bolting out of car and across the street with Officer Lou Toth pursuing him.

Officer Kevin Fry can be seen trailing behind Toth, aiming his gun at Chatman and firing as the teen begins rounding a corner in front of a bodega.

No charges were brought in the shooting.

The death of Chatman is one of several shootings of black civilians that have raised public anger.