The Texas American Federation of Teachers has filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Education Agency, accusing the state of violating educators’ First Amendment rights through investigations linked to social media posts following the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk.
In a statement released Tuesday, the union said the TEA launched sweeping probes into school officials accused of making what the agency described as “inappropriate” comments after Kirk was killed during a college campus event in September.
According to the lawsuit, the investigations targeted hundreds of educators and focused largely on their personal social media activity.
The teachers union claims the TEA’s actions triggered widespread professional retaliation. Educators were allegedly reprimanded, placed on administrative leave, and in some cases terminated, after the agency circulated a letter announcing the investigations.
The state education agency has previously argued that the educators’ conduct violated the Texas code of ethics for teachers. However, the union contends the investigations stem from an “impermissibly vague, overbroad” policy that unlawfully restricts free speech and fails to clearly define prohibited conduct.
“Somewhere and somehow, our state’s leaders lost their way. A few well-placed Texas politicians and bureaucrats think it is good for their careers to trample on educators’ free speech rights. They decided scoring a few cheap points was worth the unfair discipline, the doxxing, and the death threats targeted at Texas teachers. Meanwhile, educators and their families are afraid that they’ll lose everything: their livelihoods, their reputations, and their very purpose for being, which is to impart critical thinking,” said Zeph Capo, president of Texas AFT.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The union is seeking to halt the investigations and block future enforcement actions it says chill constitutionally protected speech by public school employees.
