A major Texas teachers’ union filed a federal lawsuit against the state on Tuesday challenging what it describes as unconstitutional investigations into hundreds of educators who posted comments on social media following the September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The Texas American Federation of Teachers, which represents approximately 66,000 public school employees, is asking a federal court to block the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mike Morath, from continuing investigations that the union argues violate teachers’ free speech protections.
The legal challenge centers on a 6 September letter Morath sent to school superintendents across Texas, instructing them to report educators who made what he termed “reprehensible and inappropriate” remarks about Kirk, who was shot and killed on 10 September while speaking at Utah Valley University. The union argues this directive has triggered a sweeping crackdown on constitutionally protected speech.
“Public school teachers and other employees do not surrender their first amendment rights simply by virtue of their employment,” the lawsuit reads.
The lawsuit describes cases of four teachers who faced discipline ranging from termination to formal investigations after making personal social media posts criticizing Kirk’s rightwing positions on issues including race and immigration. According to the complaint, educators were punished despite posting from personal accounts, outside work hours, and without causing any disruption to school operations.
The Texas Education Agency has received more than 350 complaints about educators’ social media activity related to Kirk’s death, according to the Texas Tribune. As of Sunday, the agency told the Tribune that 95 complaints remained under investigation, with hundreds dismissed or found unsubstantiated.
“Simply being under investigation negatively impacts an educator’s reputation, requires resource expenditures for legal representation, and can have lasting detrimental impacts on an employee’s long-term employment prospects, even outside of the education arena,” the lawsuit adds.
The lawsuit does not seek monetary damages but asks the court to call the investigation policy unconstitutional, stop all related probes, and require Morath to issue new, corrective guidance clarifying that districts don’t need to report comments made by the educators.
The Texas Education Agency declined to respond to a request for comment.
