Educators fired after Charlie Kirk posts file lawsuits, alleged free speech violations

ABC News

Subscribe to ABC News on YouTube: https://abcnews.visitlink.me/59aJ1G   ABC News Digital is your daily source of breaking national and world news, exclusive interviews and 24/7 live streaming coverage.  Download the ABC News app for the latest headlines and alerts: https://abcnews.go.com/devices   Watch 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events on ABC News Live:    • LIVE: Latest News Headlines and Event...     Watch full episodes of World News Tonight with David Muir here:    • ABC World News Tonight with David Mui...     Read ABC News reports online: http://abcnews.go.com   ABC News is the home to the #1 evening newscast “World News Tonight” with David Muir, “Good Morning America,” “20/20,” “Nightline,” “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, “ABC News Live Prime” with Linsey Davis, plus the daily news podcast “Start Here.”  Connect with ABC News on social media:  Facebook:   / abcnews     Instagram:   / abcnews     TikTok:   / abcnews     X:   / abc      Threads: https://www.threads.net/@abcnews   LinkedIn:   / abcnews

Transcript

00:00Educators across the country are filing lawsuits alleging they were unlawfully fired for their

00:04comments about Charlie Kirk's assassination. In the complaints obtained by ABC News,

00:09plaintiffs claim their First Amendment rights were violated because the comments were made

00:13on personal social media accounts. One teacher in Iowa says she was fired for comparing Kirk

00:18to a Nazi. The district confirmed the firing, saying the situation was, quote,

00:22handled in accordance with applicable federal and state law and board policy.

00:26The president of the American Federation of Teachers condemned the firing, saying, quote,

00:30no one should celebrate another person's murder. But using this tragedy to encourage doxing,

00:35censorship and firing of people for their opinions, including educators, private opinions

00:39shared during their personal time is wrong. Let's bring in ABC News legal contributor and

00:44Hofstra law professor James Sample and Avery Harper for more. James, how do you expect these legal

00:49battles to play out and what do you think judges need to consider here? Diane, the First Amendment

00:55protects your right to free speech from the government. It does not protect your right to free speech

01:02from your boss, which is to say, if you work for a private company, an individual who works for a

01:07private company, a private employer can usually discipline or fire that individual for anything

01:12that individual says, including outside of work, including even online. An individual who works for

01:18the government, like a public school or a university, does have some more speech protections.

01:23But then even then, not everything is protected. These cases, particularly involving the individuals

01:30who are suing private employers, are unlikely to go anywhere. Those involving the individuals who

01:36are suing on behalf of the or against suing the government because they were fired from a public

01:42employment context. They have a better chance. But even there, it is not absolute. And public

01:47employees can be disciplined if their speech disrupts the workplace or goes against established policies,

01:54especially during work hours or on work platforms.

01:58What exactly is protected by the First Amendment? And how can where you work affect how it protects you?

02:06The First Amendment protects individuals against the government infringing on their speech right.

02:14The First Amendment does not protect against private employers or private individuals who might

02:19infringe on speech rights. There are no First Amendment rights against private individuals. But

02:24in the instances where the First Amendment is protective, i.e. in context where an individual is working

02:30for the government, the First Amendment right is very protective. But that First Amendment right

02:36gets balanced against other interests. There's a case called Pickering v. Board of Education

02:42that produces a balancing test known as the Pickering Balancing Test. And that test, it's easy to

02:49articulate. It's very hard to apply in practice. That test basically balances, on the one hand,

02:55the government's interest in efficiency, in workplace harmony, satisfactory performance of the

03:01employee's duties against the employee's First Amendment rights. There are contexts in which an

03:06employee has greater First Amendment rights based on context, based on numerous factors specific to the

03:14facts involved. So you can imagine a political science professor, for example, has more leeway if they

03:20discuss on a regular basis the feelings and thoughts about political leaders or political movements than,

03:27say, a professor of engineering at a university would, where they're making a one-off comment that is

03:34not necessarily germane to the material that they would normally cover.

03:37Is there a distinction between hate speech and something people might find offensive?

03:41There is no distinction, Diane, between hate speech and free speech. That is a comment that last week,

03:49about nine days ago now, Attorney General Bondi made that she said that there is hate speech and there is

03:55free speech and we're going to go after those who are engaged in hate speech. The reality is that it

04:00is a bedrock principle of American constitutional law that even the idea of speech that we as a society

04:09or that the government abhors is protected by the First Amendment. All right, James Sample, thank you.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended