You can't do an end run around your foundation. What liberty has he lost? The right to work? No. He can beat the job fairs like the 10% of unemployed out there & look for a job...I don't know of any "We won't hire Joe Paterno" companies out there. Do you?
I think you misread it... : “A public employee’s liberty interest can be triggered by a discharge under certain publicly stigmatizing”. He HAS been fired. The circumstances, as you admit, ARE publicly stigmatizing. Therefore, he has ALREADY had his liberty interests raised, just today. He has nothing else to establish, and does not need to try to get any other employment. I’m no labor lawyer, but that’s how I read that passage and apply it to these facts.