Jan. 6 (UPI) — The Texas American Federation of Teachers union on Tuesday accused state officials of violating teachers’ constitutional rights by investigating them for comments made after Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
The union represents about 66,000 Texas public school teachers and others and says the Texas Education Agency and its commissioner, Mark Morath, are seeking information regarding potentially disparaging comments made by teachers after Kirk was shot and killed at an outdoor Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10.
Morath sent a TEA letter to Texas school superintendents on Sept. 12 in which he said some Texas public school teachers posted “reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media” without providing specific examples, the union says in the 25-page lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Western Texas in Austin.
Morath wants superintendents to report teachers who made disparaging comments about Kirk following his slaying and received 350 complaints, 95 of which are still under investigation.
Many state lawmakers also have called for teachers and others to be fired for celebrating the death of the conservative activist and co-founder of Turning Point USA.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Morath said such comments incite violence and could cause the state to suspend the teaching licenses of respective educators.
The TAFT lawsuit says one unnamed teacher was placed on administrative leave for a social media post saying Kirk’s death was “karma.”
Three other unnamed teachers were reported and investigated with no punishment delivered, but one was told to follow state regulations and school district policy.
The TAFT accuses the Morath and the TEA of violating teachers’ First Amendment and 14th Amendment rights and wants the court to declare the TEA policy to be unconstitutional and award attorneys’ fees, legal costs and other relief deemed necessary, proper and just.
The state teachers union also wants the federal court to order Morath and the TEA to retract the letter and circulate a follow-up letter stating that school superintendents don’t have to report teachers’ comments and affirming teachers’ rights to engage in constitutionally protected speech.
