From the Arkansas Advocate:
A former Arkansas high school teacher accused the Russellville School District in a federal lawsuit Wednesday of violating his First Amendment rights when it fired him last year over a post he made on social media alluding to conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas on behalf of Joshua Duncan, who taught biology at Russellville High School until his termination last fall. It is asking a judge to order the district to reinstate Duncan.
The superintendent of the district, Luke Lovins, said in an email that the district wouldn’t comment on pending litigation.
The complaint filed in federal district court says that Duncan was fired after he posted on his personal Facebook page the day of Kirk’s death a quote attributed to the late criminal defense attorney Clarence Darrow, which read: “‘I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.’”
In addition to the quote, the complaint said, Duncan commented on the post: “‘Just seemed fitting today.’”
The lawsuit is one of several that have been filed in federal courts across the country by Americans who were disciplined or lost their jobs because of comments criticizing or mocking the Turning Point USA founder after he was shot and killed while speaking at a college campus in Utah.
Several public employees who lost their jobs over posts or comments about Kirk have received settlements as a result of those lawsuits.
Kirk’s death instantly became an online flashpoint in a year that had already seen several acts of political violence, including the assassination and attempted assassination of two Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota.
Duncan’s lawsuit says that his Facebook post remained online for less than 12 hours before he decided to delete it, and was only viewable by the roughly 1,200 he was friends with on the platform.
“He deleted the post of his own volition before he went to work and before he knew it had been screenshotted and spread around,” the lawsuit read.
He was ultimately fired by Russellville’s school board on Sept. 25 for violating school policies involving social media, two weeks after being put on administrative leave.
The district’s superintendent, Lovins, “specifically pointed to Mr. Duncan’s post about Charlie Kirk and otherwise made it clear that the post was the reason for the recommended termination,” the complaint said.
Duncan has faced “ongoing harm stemming from his termination” due to difficulties obtaining new, equivalent employment and because of a complaint submitted by Lovins about the post to the Arkansas Department of Education Professional Licensure Standards Board.
“The ACLU of Arkansas condemns political violence in all forms. There is no place for violence in our democracy,” the organization wrote in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “But the First Amendment protects a wide range of political expression, including speech that others may find controversial or offensive. Government officials cannot punish people for exercising those rights.”
