By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) – The Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers union sued Texas on Tuesday, urging a federal court to block the state from probing teachers over their social media posts on conservative influencer Charlie Kirk after his assassination in September.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas named the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner Mike Morath as defendants.
The Texas AFT said a letter in September from the Texas Education Agency announced probes into teachers and staff that the agency alleged had “posted and/or shared reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media” about Kirk’s assassination.
The union said Texas launched investigations into more than 350 educators and that some union members were terminated, placed on administrative leave and reprimanded.
The lawsuit said the Texas Education Agency did not define what it meant by “inappropriate” or provide protections to ensure that due process and free-speech rights of educators were preserved.
The letter from the Texas Education Agency had said some social media posts may be in “violation of the Educators’ Code of Ethics.” The agency said on Tuesday that it “cannot comment on outstanding legal matters.”
Kirk was shot at a Utah college campus. In subsequent weeks, hundreds of Americans faced firings, suspensions, investigations and other actions over views they expressed about him. Republicans alleged glorification of violence while rights advocates raised free-speech concerns.
Civil rights advocates criticized Kirk for rhetoric they called racist, anti-immigrant, transphobic, and misogynist, citing his public remarks about Black Americans, LGBTQ+ communities, Muslims and immigrants.
His supporters described him as a defender of conservative values and public debate who galvanized young voters for President Donald Trump in the 2024 election.
Republican-controlled Texas also faced accusations of free-speech violations in November when it designated prominent Muslim civil rights group the Council on American-Islamic Relations a “foreign terrorist organization.” CAIR challenged that in court.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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